- BY ISSIMO
- March 27, 2024
Buona Pasqua from our family to yours! Easter means being together with family and friends and savouring those special dishes you might not have the opportunity to make at other times of the year. In other words, it means feasting!
Infuse your Pasqua menu with a taste of each of our three hotels, as our executive chefs from Mezzatorre Hotel, Hotel Il Pellicano and La Posta Vecchia share their recipes for a sumptuous entrée, main and dessert using local ingredients and seasonal specialties of each destination.
Think homemade pasta, locally-grown vegetables, and of course, being Easter, lots of succulent seafood. These recipes have been tried and tested with love by our chefs over the years and they’re sure to delight your guests with an Easter feast they’ll be talking about for years to come. Buonissimo!
ENTREE
Artichoke Stuffed Pappardelle with Sea Urchin Sauce
By Executive Chef Giuseppe D’Abundo, Mezzatorre Hotel
SERVES 4 PEOPLE
INGREDIENTS
Fresh pasta :
400 grams ‘00’ flour’
5 medium eggs
10 grams salt
Filling :
4 artichokes
1 head of fresh garlic enough for all preparations)
1 bunch of mint
White breadcrumbs to taste
Grated lemon zest to taste
Cream :
Extra oil
Fresh garlic
Artichoke stalks
1 medium potato
Sea urchin sauce
Sea urchins
8 grams of oil
Fresh garlic
Ingredients
METHOD
For the pasta:
-Put all the flour on the pastry board and create a cavity in the centre of the mound.
-Sprinkle salt all around and crack the eggs in the centre of the flour well. Lightly beat the eggs with a fork, just enough to mix yolks and egg whites, then start incorporating some flour taken from the edges of the well.
-Continue working the ingredients with your fingers until you have gathered all the flour, incorporating it into the eggs.
-When the dough is completely mixed, start kneading it with your hands for about 10 minutes until it’s smooth and all combined.
-Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest in the fridge for about one hour.
For the filling :
-After washing and cleaning the artichokes, cut them in halves.
-With the stem of the artichokes we will make a cream and with the flower part we will remove the tough leaves and dice them.
-For the cream, put extra oil, fresh garlic, potato and artichoke stems in a saucepan. After browning them, cover them with water, add salt to taste and simmer them slowly.
-As soon as it is ready, blend it and pass it through a sieve to make our filling creamy.
-Once the artichoke flower part has been diced, brown it in a frying pan with extra oil and fresh garlic. As soon as it turns golden brown, dry it on kitchen paper.
Method
-At this point, you are ready to complete the stuffing: put the diced artichokes in a bowl, add the browned artichoke flower, the white breadcrumbs that have been previously blended in a food processor with mint, a light grating of lemon zest and a tablespoon of cream. These ingredients should all combine to create a creamy but not overly soft mixture.
Making the pappardelle:
-Using a rolling pin and a pasta sheeter, prepare the pasta in sheets like classic cannelloni in whatever thickness you prefer (less filling if you make them thicker).
-Using a pastry bag, place about 10 cm lengths of the filling on the pastry and close the portions up with a pastry cutter, then roll it up on itself like pappardelle.
-Make good use of the gaps in the pastry sheet so that each sheet of pastry can make at least 2-3 filled pappardelle.
For the sauce:
-Sea urchins can be found at fishmongers depending on the fishing season, ask to have them already opened, cleaned and ready to cook.
-Prepare the sauce with a light base of oil and garlic, add the urchins, cook them quickly and remove from the heat.
Assembling the dish:
-Cook the pappardelle on a low boil for about 3-5 minutes depending on the thickness of the pasta
-As soon as they are ready, toss them one at a time in the sea urchin sauce, add a drizzle of oil and serve.
MAIN COURSE
Sole, peas, artichokes and Orbetello roe
By Executive Chef Michelino Gioia, Hotel Il Pellicano
SERVES 4 PEOPLE
INGREDIENTS
For the fish:
1000 g Sole
1 sprig of Thyme
15 grams extra virgin oil
4 grams lemon rind
Salt to taste
For the pea cream:
1.2kg fresh peas
400 grams shallots
1 gram xanthan
10 grams chilli oil
40 grams olive oil
Salt to taste
For the artichokes:
2 Cimaroli artichokes
1 clove of garlic
10 grams of lemon juice
Salt to taste
1 sprig of Thyme
20 grams of white wine
Extra virgin olive oil
Toppings:
50 grams freshly shelled peas
30 grams Orbetello bottarga powder
20 grams grated Orbetello roe
8 grams pea shoots
8 dried tomatoes, chopped
Lime zest
Ingredients
METHOD
For the fish:
-Starting with two 800-1000 gram Soles, gut the fish, remove their gills and rinse them.
-Remove both skins (the upper brown one and the lower white one) by making a small cut on the back on the side of the head and then peel it off, using a piece of paper to pull the skin off.
-Fillet the Sole by removing the four fillets, paring them, and then cutting them into 70 gram pieces.
-Overlap the two fillets and prepare them with flaked thyme, lemon rind and a little salt in the middle.
-Seal the two Sole fillets on top with baking paper by putting a drop of oil on the base, at this stage we should try to give it a cylindrical shape.
-Put them in a vacuum-sealed bag and steam at 58° for about 25 minutes.
-Once cooked, remove the fish from the vacuum-seal bag and the baking paper and let it stand.
For the pea cream:
-Remove the peas from their skins.
-Blanche a small portion, cool them in water and ice and thenstripped off the skin, then season them with olive oil and salt. These will be used as a side dish.
-We proceed with the remaining peas for the pea purée.Blanch the fresh peas in salted water, then drain them and cool in water and ice.
-Wilt the shallot (cleaned and cut into julienne strips) with olive oil.
Method
-Put the blanched peas, wilted shallots, xanthan, salt, and a little of the pea cooking water (if necessary) into a Paco Jet glass, chill it in a blast chiller, and then blend it to a smooth cream.
-When it’s time to serve, reheat it in a saucepan, adding a little spicy oil.
For the artichokes:
-Prepare a container with some water and lemon juice, then clean the artichokes, removing, the outer part and the inner stubble, and place them in the container of acidic water, to prevent them from oxidising.
-Season the artichokes with some lemon juice, the sprig of thyme, white wine, salt and the clove of garlic, mix everything together, put into a vacuum-sealed bag and steam for about 15 minutes at 95° (the time depends very much on the size of the artichokes).
-When it’s time to serve, cut the artichokes in four, brown them in a pan with olive oil, salt and thyme.
Assembling the dish:
In a flat dish, lay the pea cream at the base and roll it out with a variegated spatula. Place the two sole fillets on top, and the rest of the whole peas around the sides of the fish. Garnish with Orbetello roe (both powdered and sliced), and some fresh pea shoots to finish.
DESSERT
Hazelnut Mousse (Tronchetto alla nocciola)
By Executive Chef Antonio Magliulo, La Posta Vecchia
SERVES 4 PEOPLE
INGREDIENTS
Hazelnut mousse:
200g caster sugar
240g egg yolks
100g water
900g semi-whipped cream
250g hazelnut paste
16g gelatine sheets
Crunchy coating:
420g dark chocolate (70%)
60g seed oil
70g hazelnut kernels
Salted caramel:
190g cream
260g caster sugar
120g butter
10g salt
Hazelnut Namelaka:
285g milk
30g hazelnut paste
300g milk Chocolate
600g semi-Whipped Cream
25g gelatine
Fior di Latte Ice Cream:
425g Milk
60g Cream
90g Caster sugar
20g Glucose
Ingredients
METHOD
For the hazelnut mousse:
-Whip the egg yolks in a planetary mixer and separately prepare the sugar syrup. Once it comes to temperature, add the previously hydrated gelatine and pour into the mixer.
-When the mixture is combined, add the hazelnut paste and then the semi-whipped cream. -Pour into the mould and blast chill until frozen.
For the Namelaka:
-Bring the milk to the boil and then pour into a bowl with the chocolate, hazelnut paste and rehydrated gelatine inside. Add the semi-whipped cream.
-Leave to rest overnight in the refrigerator and then whip in the planetary mixer.
Method
For the salted caramel:
-Place the sugar in a saucepan to melt and then add the hot cream and finally the butter and salt.
For the Fior di Latte Ice Cream:
-Bring the milk with the sugar and glucose to the boil in a saucepan, then remove from the heat and add the cream.
-Pour the mixture into the container and freeze it.
Buona Pasqua (and Buon appetito) from all of us here at ISSIMO!
Now that you have the perfect menu sorted, you need the perfect tableware to match. Here’s a few vibrant treasures we’re dressing our Easter tables with…
