The recipe proposed this week for First&Food readers by Domenico Pichini, Chef of "Il Tufo allegro" in Pitigliano, is not a dish but a real complete lunch. A recipe on three cultural levels, the refined one of the rack of lamb, a noble cut favored by great chefs for preparations in a crust with a great scenographic effect, the popular one of the sweetbreads, which in the fried version are part of the traditional Easter breakfast and the ravioli di buglione typical dish of this Maremma area, and that of the Jewish gastronomic tradition represented by the artichoke alla giudia.
"The idea of the recipe - says the Chef - was born with the aim of enhancing the quality of our lamb for meat, which some of our local producers have raised to excellence by using almost all the parts of the lamb, sometimes in the dish I also add croutons of coratella mousse…, combining some traditional preparations with other more modern interpretations”.
The ravioli, on the other hand, is inspired by the recipe for "Buglione d'Ambnello", the most typical and well-known recipe of the cuisine of the Tuscan town, an expression of the Goym cuisine which comes from the union of the Pitigliano cuisine with that of the Jewish community, which has lived in Pitigliano, integrating perfectly with the local community.
Ingredients for each dish
For the rack of lamb crusted with aromatic herbs and almonds:
– rack of lamb removed 150gr.
– aromatic herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme, marjoram and mint or catnip)
– 00 flour
- egg whites
- extra virgin olive oil
– sliced almonds to taste
– 2 tablespoons of lamb stock
- Salt and Pepper To Taste
Method:
Tie the loin with kitchen string, salt and pepper, weld it by passing it in a pan in a little very hot extra virgin olive oil, blast chill it until it is perfectly cold. Place the carré in a cooking bag, add the sprigs of aromatic herbs, a pinch of coarse salt and peppercorns, seal the bag under 100% vacuum and cook it at 52° in the toner or in the steam oven for 5 hours, pass it in an ice bath and look in the fridge.
For the lamb buglione ravioli:
– Buglione of lamb (typical dish of Pitigliano cuisine, perhaps the most famous) 60g of meat and 4-5 tablespoons of cooking liquid
– Fresh egg pasta enough to make two ravioli of 5-6 cm in diameter
– 2 slices of stale bread
Procedure:
Cut a piece of lamb as for a tartare, soak the bread in the cooking liquid and mix it with the lamb, form balls with which to fill the ravioli. Roll out the fresh pasta and cup it into discs of 5-6 cm in diameter, place the filling balls on two discs and close them with the remaining discs.
For the Sweet Garlic Sauce:
– 2-3 cloves of garlic (possibly Proceno red)
– 1/4 whole milk
– extra virgin olive oil to taste
- Salt to taste
Procedure:
blanch the garlic cloves in the milk, put them in a glass for the immersion blender, chop them and emulsify with the extra virgin olive oil to form a cream, add salt.
For the crunchy sweetbreads:
– 1 piece of lamb sweetbread
– kataifi dough
– clarified butter
- Seed oil for frying
Procedure:
clean the sweetbread from all the skins, blanch it in boiling salted water and blast chill it in a positive blast chiller. Roll out a little kataifi dough, brush it with clarified butter, wrap it around the sweetbread, being careful to close it well.
For the crunchy artichoke flower:
– 1 Roman artichoke (violet)
– 1 clove of red garlic
– salt up to taste
– 1 sprig of mint (or catmint)
– a pinch of ascorbic acid
– extra virgin olive oil to taste
- Seed oil for frying
Procedure:
clean the artichoke well, remove the outer leaves, turn the bottom, and trim it at the tip. Place the artichoke in a cooking bag, add the garlic clove, salt, mint, extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of ascorbic acid, seal the vacuum bag at 100% and cook at 90° in the steam oven for 30′ blast chill and keep in the fridge.
Composition and presentation:
Regenerate the loin in a bain-marie at 52°, open the bag, remove all the condiments and the string, pass it first in a veil of flour, then in the egg white and then in a breading of all the chopped aromatic herbs and flaked almonds. Bake at 200° for 7′, heat the lamb stock in a small pan.
Cook the ravioli in boiling salted water, once cooked, toss them in a pan with the remaining lamb meat and the broth from the buglione.
Cook the sweetbreads in very hot seed oil until the phyllo dough is crunchy, then the artichoke, also regenerated in a bain-marie like the loin, after opening the leaves a little.
Arrange the ravioli with its sauce and a little sweet garlic sauce, the loin with its stock and the hot sweetbread and artichoke on the plate.
