Simply Italian
Taverna Chef Roger Stettler shares the essentials
of Mediterranean cooking
Story by Mona de Crinis
Photographs by Ryan Siphers
Recipes from Taverna Executive Chef Roger Stettler
Taverna managing partner and award-winning chef Roger Stettler elevates Italian cuisine with his farm-to-table interpretations of classic favorites.
As a young boy, Roger Stettler loved hanging out in the kitchen while his Italian grandmother made marinara. Standing over the simmering pot with a spoon and a chunk of day-old bread for dipping, she would alternate between stirring and sampling, allowing the bubbling potion time to fully absorb the rich Mediterranean flavors.
“It was a ritual, almost to the point where she would kind of hover over the stove and protect the sauce,” said Stettler, who credits his Nonna and mother with inspiring the cosmopolitan journey that led the award-winning chef to open an Italian restaurant on Maui. “I can still see her in the kitchen, where life happened. Food brings everyone together.”
Those early memories lie at the heart of Taverna, West Maui’s hub for “Urban Drinks + Italian Eats.” Ringed by majestic Cook pines and the flowing greens of Kapalua Golf’s Bay Course, Taverna has been delighting residents and visitors with its extensive menu, craft cocktails and selection of Italian wines since 2016.
A native of Bern, Switzerland, Stettler’s impressive qualifications include the title of master chef bestowed by the Swiss government and former executive chef of the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea. He received his culinary-arts training at the renowned Arosa Kulm Hotel in Arosa, Switzerland, then honed his skills at five-star resorts around the world — St. Thomas Virgin Islands, Singapore, Thailand and Korea — before settling on Maui almost 20 years ago to share his culinary vision.
In Taverna, Stettler recreates the feeling of family — blood or chosen — gathered in the kitchen during mealtime, talking story and luxuriating in the aroma of savory goodness. From rafter to exposed beam, intimate bar to expansive lanai, the restaurant embodies first-water simplicity — the brick-and-mortar extension of a cuisine philosophy squarely centered on house-made comfort food crafted with fresh, locally sourced products.
According to Stettler, Italian cuisine is simple cuisine. It showcases the flavors of the ingredients themselves without overdoing it. He advises home cooks to concentrate on quality for the best results, opting for organic, farm-sourced or gourmet products whenever possible. “There’s garlic, and then there’s garlic, right?” he said of commercially produced versus home-grown garlic.
When cooking an Italian meal or trying new recipes, such as the chef favorites included here, Stettler offers three basic rules: Keep it simple. Use quality ingredients. Let the natural flavors shine.
The featured marinara recipe, for example, can be completed in a few easy steps with little or no prep work. Using crushed tomato puree eliminates peeling, deseeding and cooking fresh tomatoes, which can vary greatly and lack the concentrated potency of a quality canned product. Stettler prefers San Marzano tomatoes from Italy’s Campania region. Grown in ideal conditions and canned at peak season, this Roma relative has thick flesh, few seeds and a strong, sweet flavor.
As a world-renowned chef, Stettler is an admitted stickler for specific products — using only Maui Kuia Estate Dark Chocolate for his Torta di Cioccolato, for instance. While substitutions are inevitable in the home- kitchen realm, find quality equivalents available in your area and don’t stray, he advises.
For those ambitious amateur chefs attempting this signature Taverna dining experience at home, Stettler suggests starting with the marinara. Let it simmer over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, giving it space for the richness of all those nuanced ingredients to harmonize. Forget that it only takes 15 minutes to heat up store-bought pasta sauce, there’s no rushing when it comes to authentic home-cooked Italian food.
“You cannot force a marinara,” Stettler said. So, sit back, sip an Italian wine and let flavor happen.
Chef Roger’s Marinara
It all starts with a great marinara bubbling on the stove, the rich tomatoes and classic Italian seasonings allowed to slowly harmonize into a chorus of Mediterranean goodness.
4 cans (28 oz) crushed San Marzano tomatoes in puree (preferred). May substitute with Contadina or S&W.
8 loves of garlic, peeled and chopped
10 medium-large basil leaves torn into pieces
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 heaping tsp granulated sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Pour oil into medium stock pot and place over medium heat. Add garlic and basil. Sweat for one minute. Carefully add the crushed tomatoes. Rinse can with about 2 cups of water and add to the pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat while stirring occasionally, then simmer at low heat. Add sugar and continue simmering 60-90 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper.
Makes 3.5 quarts
Chef tip: Make marinara in big batches and freeze for future use.
Pappardelle Bolognese
1½ lbs ground pork
1½ lbs ground beef
1½ qts marinara
1½ cups water
Salt and pepper to taste
Sauté beef and pork over medium-high heat until 70 percent done, breaking down larger chunks with a wooden spatula. Drain and discard meat liquid and grease. Add marinara (see recipe) and water. Braise over medium-low heat until tender (approximately 45 minutes) while stirring occasionally. When the meat is tender and liquid slightly reduced, lightly season with salt and pepper. Remove and place in ice bath until cooled. Refrigerate until needed. Serve over pappardelle or other medium-to-long pasta such as spaghetti, fettuccine, linguine or ziti. Serves 4-6
Wine pairing: Tasmorcan Barbera D’Asti Piedmont Italy or Chianti Classico, Volpaia, DOCG, Tuscany, Italy
Torta di Cioccolato
1/3 cup sugar #1
5.6 oz (approximately 5 eggs)
egg whites
2 Tbsp sugar #2
1/3 cup egg yolks
5 oz Maui Ku‘ia Estate 60% Dark
Chocolate (or similar)
8 Tbsp unsalted butter
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp salt
1 sheet parchment
Preheat oven to 320˚. Prepare 8-inch round cake pans. Place sheet of parchment over an 8-inch round cake pan and press down in the center, line the bottom and fold the excess paper around the edges. Set aside. In a small 8-quart mixer, use the whip attachment to combine egg yolks, sugar #2 and vanilla extract. Whip until fluffy and doubled in volume. Melt butter in a saucepan on low heat or microwave. Don’t let butter separate. Set aside. Slowly begin melting dark chocolate in a bowl over a low-heat double boiler, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula. When the chocolate is about 80 percent melted, make French meringue by combining egg whites and sugar #1 with a whisk attachment or a hand mixer on low speed until sugar has dissolved. Increase to medium-high speed until mixture stiffens into peaks (do not overbeat). Set aside in refrigerator.
Once chocolate is completely melted, remove from heat. Combine cornstarch and egg yolk mixture beginning on low speed, gradually increasing speed until fully mixed. Quickly add to the melted chocolate. With a rubber spatula, quickly (and carefully) fold the egg yolk mixture into the chocolate until fully combined. Using a whisk, add melted butter into the chocolate yolk mixture from the center of the bowl out to the edges. With the rubber spatula, fold in two batches of meringue until no egg white is visible. Pour batter into a cake pan and bake for 18 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool at room temperature and freeze overnight. Serve on a splash of Tahitian vanilla sauce with caramelized walnuts (see accompanying recipes). Keeps seven days refrigerated. Serves 8
Chef tips: To serve, dip knife in container of hot water, wiping dry between slices. If you don’t have two mixers, make French meringue first, transfer to a bowl and keep in refrigerator until needed. As egg yolks can mix for a long time without breaking, mix yolks until chocolate melts completely. Whip egg whites at room temperature.
Wine pairings: Moscato D’Asti, Michele Chiarlo Nivole Italy or Gaja Grappa
Tahitian Vanilla Sauce (Crème Anglaise)
3/4 cup whole milk
1½ cups heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
½ cup egg yolks
½ tsp vanilla paste
Fill a large container with ice and water to prepare ice bath. In a small sauce pot, combine milk, cream and vanilla paste. Whisk egg yolks and sugar together quickly in separate bowl, then whisk egg and milk mixtures together in sauce pot. Gradually heat to 185˚ while continuously whisking to keep eggs from cooking. Once mixture has reached the proper temperature, remove from heat immediately and place in ice bath to cool. Whisk with rubber spatula if skin forms on the surface. Transfer to serving bowl and enjoy. Keeps seven days refrigerated.
Makes ½ qt
Caramelized Hazelnuts
1 cup hazelnuts
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp water
Lightly toast hazelnuts on a sheet pan and keep warm. Prepare Silpat or silicone baking sheet and place on a table. Combine sugar and water in a pot at high heat, bringing sugar temperature to “thread stage.” Add hazelnuts to sugar mixture and crystallize. With a spatula, occasionally mix the nuts and cook until sugar crystals are no longer visible. When mixture is a dark caramel color with a glossy sheen, quickly pour nuts on Silpat and separate with a spatula.
Once cooled, crush the nuts using the bottom of a small pot and keep in an airtight container with moisture packet until ready for use. Keeps for one month if sealed.
