For anybody who had the privilege or a sizeable-enough bank account to dine at Gucci Osteria last year, you’d recognise it as a religious experience. The 60-seater restaurant served four to seven course meals presented on a range of Gucci Herbarium crockery from the Gucci Décor collection, including red crockery exclusive to Gucci Osteria while the restaurant was decked out with a red Gucci Herbarium motif wallpaper and furnishings that created a Wes Anderson meets Renaissance vibe.
Just in time for anybody who is sick of cooking instant noodles or microwaving food, Karime Lopez, head chef of Osteria Francescana (you know, the restaurant that partnered with Gucci) has released two pasta recipes from Gucci Osteria’s menu. They’re pretty impressive; especially if you’re looking to impress your family, colleagues on Zoom or house plant.
Or you can just check out our list of 30 restaurants or bars that deliver. Your (literal) call!
—
Lucky Fennel: “I thought of this recipe that uses fennel as a basic ingredient because it is a seasonal vegetable and because of all the stories and curiosities surrounding this vegetable. In Greek and Roman history, in fact, fennel was considered symbol of strength and vigour and they believe it brought luck.
Some treatises on Ancient Rome reported how Roman gladiators added fennel to their dishes to be successful in the arena and, when they won the fights, they were crowned with a garland of fennel. This is also the reason why — for the Gucci Osteria menu — we called this dish ‘Lucky Fennel’.”
Ingredients:
- Four Fennels for the cream
- Two Sliced Fennels
- Two Red Prawns
- 200grams of Wild Fennel
- 20 Pistachio Nuts
- One Lemon
- Lemon Oil
- 400grams of Seed Oil
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Salt
- 100grams Linguine Pasta
An alternative for Fennel bulbs:
- 450grams of celery (more aromatic, cooks faster) + a teaspoon of Fennel Seeds.
- 450grams of Bok Choy stems + 1 tablespoon of Fennel Seeds.
Procedure for the cream:
- Wash and cut the fennel coarsely, steam them at 90°C for two hours.
- Drain the fennel once cooked and whisk them with extra virgin olive oil and salt until creamy.
- Pass the cream in a chinois strainer with fine mesh.
Procedure for the Wild Fennel Oil:
- Whisk 400grams of seed oil with 200grams of Wild Fennel.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan and bring it to a temperature of 80 ºC.
- Filter the oil in a sac à poche and then filter it with the chinois strainer with a fine mesh.
Procedure for the Pistachios:
- Toast the Pistachios in the oven at 190 ºC for four minutes.
- Grate them with a microplane.
Procedure for the dish:
- Cook the linguine pasta in salted water for about five minutes.
- Drain the linguine and finish cooking in the pan for three minutes, adding the Fennel cream and the Lemon Oil to make it creamy.
- Season the raw and finely sliced Fennel with the Wild Fennel Oil.
- Season the prawns with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and the Lemon Peel and cut them into six pieces each.
Plating:
Spread the grated Pistachios on the base of the plate, and lay a nest of Linguine on top, developing it in height. Add six pieces of Prawn, Pistachio Powder and finely sliced Fennel. Garnish the dish with Wild Fennel Leaves.
—
Pollock 27: “I chose this recipe because it’s easy to make and it needs ingredients that we all have at home. Usually we prepare this dish without gluten, but all-purpose “00” flour can also be used.”
“It is a fun recipe because you can vary the filling each time you make it using ingredients that you have in the fridge, such as vegetables or meat, and the colour of each sauce can be changed according to the vegetables or herbs used. Even more colours can be added! When we created this dish, it looked like an artwork by Pollock, so we decided to call it exactly that.”
Datterino tomato sauce
- 100grams of Yellow Datterino tomato or local cherry tomatoes
- Two spoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Five grams of finely diced Garlic
- Two Basil leaves
- Fine Salt
In a saucepan, fry oil, garlic and basil, add the tomatoes and cook for 20 minutes. Whisk and sift before salting lightly.
Red Pepper Sauce
- 100grams of Red Bell Pepper
- Two spoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Five grams of finely diced Garlic
- One Bay leaf
- Fine salt
Bake the seedless Pepper for 40 minutes in the oven at 180 degrees, peel it and roast it in a pan with Oil, Garlic and Bay Leaf. Remove the Bay Leaf and whisk the Pepper until it becomes a homogeneous sauce and salt lightly.
Chard Sauce
- 100grams of Chard 100g – can be replaced with Mature Spinach, Mustard Greens, Cavalo Nero (Black Tuscan) Kale or Large Bak Choy
- Cooking water
- Fine Salt
Blanch the Chard for two minutes in salted water and cool in water and ice. One half must be cut with a knife for the filling and the other half must be blended with its cooking water until it becomes a homogeneous sauce.
Bechamel sauce
- 250grams of Milk
- 15grams of Corn Flour
- 25grams of Butter
- Two grams of Nutmeg
Flavuor the milk with the Nutmeg and simmer it.
Prepare the base of Butter and Corn Flour, then pour the Milk while turning with a whisk until it becomes a homogeneous sauce before salting lightly.
Discs of Pasta
- 100grams of Gluten Free Flour – can be replaced with regular Flour
- One whole Egg
Mix the Flour with the Egg and leave it to rest in cling film for 30 minutes. Spread the dough to one millimetre thickness and cut the dough to the desired size, before cooking in salted water for two minutes.
Filling
- 50grams of Ricotta Cheese
- 50grams of sliced Chard
- 10grams of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Fine salt
Stir in a bowl and serve warm.
Plating
Put a disc of pasta on a preferably deep plate, add the filling and cover with a second disk of pasta. Finally, cover the pasta disc with the lukewarm sauces in an artistic way — Jackson Pollock style.
RELATED ARTICLES
Life, In A Slow Dive
