Nicole
At Antica Macelleria Cecchini, Dario Cecchini’s butcher shop and restaurant in Panzano, Italy, the words to live by are “carne diem.” As he stands behind the counter slicing enormous sirloin steaks Florentine-style, Cecchini puts his philosophy plainly: “Eat meat and do not think too much to the future,” he says. “Enjoy the moment.”
Enjoying the moment looks like a lot of things, but at Cecchini’s canteen, meat preparations like bone marrow-braised beef and Florentine-style T-bone steak are the essence of carne diem. With a cut of high-quality beef, Cecchini believes that the divine is possible. The Chianti “sushi” he makes for his class for YesChef, a subscription-based streaming platform offering cinematic cooking classes taught by world-renowned chefs, is no exception. “We’re not artists, we’re artisans, so what we create doesn’t remain,” Checcini’s wife, Kim Cecchini, translates for him. With simple ingredients from animals who are treated ethically, you don’t need much more than some lemon, garlic, and olive oil to make a dish worth remembering.
Simplicity is an important pillar of Cecchini’s restaurant — simple ingredients, paired well with perfectly aged beef make up dishes prepared a dozen ways. For the “sushi,” all you need is a will to tenderize, then serve it raw with thin slices of lemon or lemon peels. Easy, simple, and delicious. — Dayna Evans
Sushi del Chianti
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Beef filet, red and lean
Extra-virgin olive oil, the best you have
½ lemon, peels reserved
2 garlic cloves, grated or ground
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
Sweet paprika
Salt
Black pepper, freshly ground
Instructions:
Step 1: Use a Jaccard tenderizer to tenderize the meat until it is very soft and comes apart with a fork.
Step 2: Slice the meat into small strips and place them in a bowl. Season with lemon juice, garlic cloves, parsley, paprika, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Toss gently to coat.
Step 4: Serve the meat raw with thin slices of lemon or lemon peels. Alternatively, roll it into small meatballs and quickly fry on a pan, or pile onto skewers and grill.
