Signature Recipes: Seita Nakahara
Terra Restaurant – Singapore – One Michelin star
Seita Nakahara was born in Tokyo but grew up in Singapore, where his passion for food was unleashed, almost twenty years ago. Following his studies, he worked for several years in traditional Italian restaurants in Tokyo, then undertook four years of training to be a chef, in Tuscany, Sicily and Piedmont, where he learned the complexities and techniques of Italian gastronomy.
In 2016, he returned to Singapore as chef at the Operetta restaurant, and in 2013 he came among the top five Japanese-style RED-U35 cooking contesters, attended by 500 Japanese chefs from all over the world was the only finalist to propose Italian recipes.
With the restaurant ‘Terra’, opened in 2015, he introduced the cul-ture of Tokyo-Italian into the dynamic culinary panorama of Singapore. It is famous for its Omakase, a tasting menu of his Italian creations, based on the availability of seasonal ingredients from Japan and accompanied by Italian wines offered by it. Just nine months after opening, ‘Terra’ got the Michelin star.
Oven-baked Amberjack Collar with Hokkaido vegetables and Taggiasche olives
Ingredients (Serves 4)
- 4 amberjack collars
- 4 Hokkaido potatoes
- 16 Hokkaido tomatoes
- 40 Taggiasche olives
- 1 lemon
- Bunch parsley
- Fresh thyme to taste
- 2 tablespoons Santagata Classico extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons white wine
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Preheat the oven to 200º C.
Season the fish with salt and pepper.
Chop the parsley Peel and slice the potatoes. Cut the lemon into fine rings. Lay the potatoes in a baking tray with the tomatoes, olives and fish.
Lay the lemon rings on the top and add the thyme. Drizzle over the white wine and dress with Santagata Classico extra virgin olive oil.
Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the fish until ready.
To serve, place one whole amberjack on each plate and dress with the vegetables.
Sprinkle with chopped parsley.
These recipes are taken from chapter 5 of the book “An Olive Oil Family” written by Cristina e Federico Santagata on the occasion of the 110 years of their company and pubblished by Olio Officina Edizioni.
