A Conversation With Chef Jessica Rosval of Casa Maria Luigia

I met Jessica Rosval last June at Casa Maria Luigia for the new Tòla Dòlza Sunday brunch debut, shortly after the restaurant/bed and breakfast reopened following Italy's first lockdown. "Take it easy, that's what the menu is named in Modenese dialect," she explains to me in Italian punctuated by a Canadian accent. 

With her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, an apron cinched around her waist, and a beaming smile, the head chef of the deluxe bed and breakfast owned by chef Massimo Bottura and his wife Lara Gilmore looks like a badass. And she is. The 35-year-old has been cooking since 2001, spending five years as the chef de parti at Bottura's three-star Michelin-rated Osteria Francescana and overseeing the international events.  She's permanently at Casa Maria Luigia, where she creates and prepares a menu that showcases Italian and Modenese cuisine. She's also the culinary director of the Association for the Integration of Women, a Modena-based association founded by an international group of friends. 

I spoke with her on the phone recently –  distance doesn't diminish her contagious enthusiasm. She's always curious and always hungry for novelty, just like her mentor. Here's what we discussed. 

Women, first

When it comes to economic integration, migrant women between the ages of 25 and 35 belong to the most disadvantaged group. These women, who face ongoing challenges and obstacles because they're both women and migrants, make up a growing percentage of Modena's new citizenry. 

As stated on their website, the mission of the Association for the Integration of Women is to provide resources for women to put down roots and flourish. This fantastic project born last March is the brainchild of Roseval's friend Caroline Caporossi, who she met while working for Food For Soul, the nonprofit linked to Osteria Francescana. 

"I too am a migrant woman, but when I arrived in Italy, I already knew how to cook, I already had acquired professional skills. We help those who arrive from distant countries to integrate by learning a trade," says the Canadian chef. 

The AIW project began with a sewing workshop that took shape with African women seeing face masks. It was so successful that they secured a collaboration with the historic sewing machine brand Necchi and temporarily hired eight women. 

As the organization's culinary director, Rosval teaches migrant women how to cook professionally, preparing them for a future in the restaurant industry. She starts with the basics of Italian and Modenese cuisine, but without forgetting her origins. "I teach them how to cut vegetables well, how to use machines, how to prepare emulsions, broths... skills that apply to all professional kitchens. The goal of integration is a two-way street, where you meet in the middle. Each woman takes from her native cuisine, and we find ways to make her integrate into the local culture without forgetting. We must always remain proud of our origins," assures Rosval. 

Through diversity, color, and flavors, a community learns to share and grow together. In addition to culinary and sewing courses, the organization provides useful services for helping the women integrate – such as how to read a paycheck or organize room service. Its next step will be a Modena restaurant where the women who come to learn will cook dishes from their own tradition, prompting the menu to change significantly every three months. The organization will immediately reinvest the income back into the project. 

"We are currently training four women, two from Ghana and two from Nigeria. We hope to increase the legal number as soon as the health emergency is resolved. This space will also be art and creativity, it will evolve with each group of women that comes to grow with us," Rosval explains enthusiastically. "I learn so much from them, it's a full profile of flavors that I've never tasted, very spicy and amazing like smoked fish mixed with ochre. I feel very fortunate to know these women. They are teaching me so much."

Massimo Bottura, her mentor

Rosval has made cooking her life. "For me, cooking is a way to communicate an emotion, a memory, a story, a feeling. When we don't have words, we get to cook together and express something. It's a way to connect with people, which is why I believe that cooking is an international language. You can get to know someone through cooking, which is a great reason why I'm still in this business because it's magical." 

After some experiences in Europe and Canada, she arrived seven years ago at Osteria Francescana and couldn't imagine a better place for herself. "Working for Massimo Bottura is a dream for so many people. He is someone who always manages to evolve. When you think we've done everything, he comes up with another idea, another concept, another good work — he's always looking for new inspiration, hunting for the next speech that can be made with food. Above all, never standing still, never getting tired, always evolving. The moment we think there's nothing more to learn or do, that's the moment you realize you have to quit this business. There's so much potential in expressing through food that a lifetime is not enough. That's the huge lesson that Massimo teaches us every day.

“Let's talk about 'With A Little Help From My Friends,' our latest menu at Francescana," she continues, singing her mentor's praises.  "When do you ever see a great chef like Massimo telling his cooks, 'now you make the menu,' that he's going to serve in our three Michelin star restaurant? Massimo has that confidence, the willingness to share even his success, his spotlight. He looks inside people, he sees how hard they work, how hard the team works because we believe so much in what we're communicating. We believe so much in the family we have here, and he sees that, he appreciates that. I have a lot of respect for him, and I learn a lot from him. I feel very fortunate. That's why I've been with him for seven years."

Tòla Dòlza, Stanley Tucci's favorite brunch

Jessica Rosval, who describes Casa Maria Luigia as follows, "It is a place that focuses on art, design, Emilia-Romagna, the countryside, vegetable gardens, music, classicism, everything that is contemporary, the history of Osteria Francescana. It is a place that focuses on everything." 

Although it has strong roots in the Emilian and Modenese tradition, this universe-place is at the same time totally international. Here, everyone has their own special conversation through food. It starts with breakfast, which looks to Emilian traditions. "We light the fire in the morning, we make roasted cotechino and an onion omelet. We have fried gnocco, erbazzone [a savory tart], and everything cooked in the open air. Imagine waking up to the smell of the fir and eating this super breakfast from the Emilian countryside!" 

Then comes lunch, which focuses on produce, seasonality, and the vegetable garden, while dinner pays homage to 25 years of Osteria Francescana, highlighting nine of Bottura's most iconic dishes. And then there's Sunday brunch, where internationality wins, made up of ideas taken from traveling the world, looking at a painting, or eating Italian food. 

“For example, ”Pane, Burro e..." is a special dish for me," says Rosval. “When I arrived in Italy, I noticed that everyone eats bread, butter, and anchovies. Where I come from, you eat bread, butter, and smoked oysters, or if you go to Northern Europe, you eat bread, butter, and salmon. You realize that we're all connected by these little simple details like bread and butter in the end. For brunch, we do bread butter and an oyster marinated with wine vinegar aged with horseradish. With all these flavors come Canadian-inspired flavors that you eat with bread and butter. Still, it always reminds us of where we are, where we came from, and where we're going.”

Sunday brunch focuses on three types of fire cooking: wood-fired oven, smoker, and grill. "I've become familiar with fire. It's like a very complicated dance. You get to know it slowly. Now we have three different cooking points with fire, and we manage to do this nine-course menu, with nine dishes from the spirit of sharing at the table – we can't wait to start sharing again like we used to!" 

Much of the menu's success lies in the extraordinary quality of the ingredients used, such as Modenese bianca ricotta, served freshly touched by the fire with elderflower syrup in spring, now with rose vinegar, marinated petals, and nut butter. 

That same ricotta cheese impressed actor and Italian food enthusiast Stanley Tucci. During the Emilia-Romagna episode of his Searching For Italy docuseries, Tucci accompanied Bottura to discover the gastronomic riches of his region, including Parmigiano Reggiano Dop and Balsamic Vinegar.  

“Stanley Tucci is a very polite and very humble person,” describes Rosval. "As soon as you get to know him, you realize that his curiosity is genuine. As soon as he arrived, we gave him a good plate of tagliatelle al ragù, then we brought him to the wood-fired oven to taste tigelle and freshly seared ricotta. He lit up when he tasted the exceptional flavors. He made us feel at ease despite the cameras. We also prepared baked pears – all simple dishes because this was the key to understanding the simplicity of country life and of products cooked correctly, in a way that lets them express their flavors without compromising their quality. It was a wonderful experience with him." 

Hungry yet? I suggest you bookmark Casa Maria Luigia to keep it handy for when you start planning your next trip to Italy.