that s really incredible. yeah. the mixture of the two, you have the sharpness of the blue, but then it s softened by the burrata. yeah. that s incredible. you re smart, aren t you? others might be content to stop there, but vito s continually improving on his creations and experimenting with new ideas. and where better to put his theories to the ultimate taste test than a cheese bar, which he opened with his fiancee, roberta, in the middle of the mercadante forest just outside altamura. i ve never heard of a cheese bar before. i like this. this is the only one in the world. here customers enjoy the full selection of vito s invented cheeses, but he s never forgotten how he started out on this unconventional journey. one item on the menu is focaccia barese, which vito s mother used to make for his school lunches.
me? yes. tell me when. that s it. thanks. you re welcome. look at this beautiful color. oh, it s beautiful. fava beans are a favorite staple of puglia, but cooked with onions and blended with oil, they become smooth and creamy. and then we ll add orecchiette. mix everything together. the color is spectacular. here we have our orecchiette with fava beans. then we ll add the bitter element, the olives. then we ll add the sweet element, the burrata. and the most important part of the dish, the olive oil. yeah. it creates a marriage of the flavors. yeah. and that s it, a simple dish.
white grain to ensure the flavor s not too bitter, concetta crafts each individual orecchiette by hand. her kitchen days may be behind her, but she still has plenty of advice for the chefs. we would ask, how much water do we need? she d reply, just enough. how much oil? just enough. how much salt? no rules. my mom is exactly the same. pietro is going to show me how he prepares his signature dish, burnt grain orecchiette in a cream of fava beans topped with burrata and charred black olives. fresh fava beans. now we add some water. then we add some onion. the sweet one, the white one. we wait until it starts to steam, then we blend everything. how long? three minutes, because it s freshly made pasta. now we ll blend. and that s the beans for the dish. can you add some olive oil while i blend?
it goes from the middle and it s going to shred it into lines of mozzarella. you mix wit the cream and salt. now this is the filling of your burrata. can you see he is making a pouch? and put the strata. that s the burrata? that s what it is. so simple. very simple. i mean, in theory. it s taken time to win londoners over. many chefs initially refused to work with the mozzarella that wasn t made in italy. but today simona s mozzarella is earning a place on some of the city s top italian restaurants. thanks a lot. thank you. ooh, wow, look at that. come on! well, she was right.