Talking to Giancarlo Pasin and entering the most intimate heart of Treviso cuisine is one and the same. He casually arrives at the stove at a young age after a past as a worker. He had found himself unemployed overnight due to the bankruptcy of the company where he worked. Pasin did not look for another job, the wound of his unemployment was open and bleeding. He then decided that he would give himself the job so that he no longer had to experience the shame of being fired.
And with his wife Teresa he took over one old inn in Dosson, three hundred meters from bell tower of an ancient convent, where, according to an urban legend, a bird would have deposited the seed of a strange vegetable that the friars began to cultivate in their garden: the late red radicchio.
He was 34 years old and threw himself headlong into the enterprise with all his youthful ardor, serving “cicchetti” and “ombrette” but already thinking of broadening the circle with some dishes, a reminder of the country cooking of his mother who had fascinated him. And this is how the tavern is soon transformed into a simple but welcoming restaurant where his wife Teresa, always kind, always ready to perceive and satisfy the customers' requests, bestowing smiles and human warmth, is so appreciated for her sympathy that the place will be called by all "Alla Pasina", a female patronymic acknowledgment of the figure of the hostess.
The warm atmosphere of the Pasina and the goodness of the cuisine of Pasin which has now made a name for itself in the Treviso area Giuseppe Maffioli, a famous television author and man of cinema, is also striking (he was entrusted with the creation of the delicious and sophisticated dishes in Marco Ferreri's La grande binge) Venetian actor and gastronome, director of La Cucina Italiana, to whom we owe the first attribution of paternity of Radicchio Rosso di Treviso, and the first identification history of tiramisu.
Maffioli, an outspoken man with a strong temperament, extremely appreciates the passion that Gian Carlo Pasin puts into the preparation of his dishes, his boundless love for cooking animated by an initiatory feeling that leads him to create and invent recipes with an almost religious passion. A strong friendship develops between the two. Maffioli, who has published several books on Venetian cuisine ("Il Ghiottone veneto" "Cucina e vini delle Tre Venezie", "Venetian cuisine", "Treviso cuisine, history and recipes") likes to stay with Pasin to discuss ancient culinary paths , of dormant traditions of local gastronomy. Their meetings thus become an open book in which the cuisine of the area is confronted between past and present.
E Maffioli is so impressed by the skill of the Chef of Dosson in the kitchen which will end up authoritatively sanctioning its excellence dedicating a chapter to Pasin in his cookbook "Treviso cooking, stories and recipes".
In particular, the great gastronome was impressed by "La sopa coada della Pasina with radicio and mushrooms". And he lingers on describing it in detail: “In addition to tradition – writes Maffioli – but with results of extraordinary flavour, there is the sopa coada created by Giancarlo Pasin, a passionate young cook, who had the good idea of using both Treviso and the Montello mushrooms, thus obtaining an all-Treviso and very delicious dish. We proceed as for the preparation of a legitimate sopa cauda with the lovebirds. For a soup with two pigeons, cook separately in butter 700 g of broadsword radicchio taken before peeling and sauté in oil, butter, garlic and parsley, 300 g of sliced porcini mushrooms. Or replace the fresh mushrooms with 50 g of dried mushrooms soaked in water. Brown a thinly sliced onion in a little grape-seed oil, add the radicchio and mushrooms. Mix gently. What is obtained is placed in layers in the soup together with the pigeon meat cut into thin julienne strips and the Parmesan cheese. Each layer is sprinkled with pigeon sauce and all with a good broth in which the little bones of the birds have been simmered. Then go into the oven. Serve rather dry with on the side a cup of oxtail chicken broth and (another “pigeon”).
With the tenacity and humility that distinguishes him, Pasin treasures this friendship which helps him to deepen his knowledge of the typical Treviso traditions but at the same time to broaden his culture in the field of cooking techniques so as to be able to combine the tradition of his earth with the continuous search for the new by proposing innovative and creative dishes in compliance with the changing seasons.
With rigor and determination, the Chef has established himself over time as a true emblem of Treviso cuisine known nationally and internationally. It becomes sort of ambassador of the Treviso gastronomic tradition abroad. The Italian Academy of Cuisine founded by Orio Vergani certifies him as one of the "long-time" chefs of the province of Treviso who has had international experiences as ambassador of Treviso red radicchio in the world. “In his restaurant – it is underlined – he has maintained the taste of tradition while enriching the gastronomic offer with dishes always linked to seasonal and zero kilometer offers”.
In the meantime, with his wife and children Simone and Nicoletta, he moved his restaurant to a late XNUMXth century Veneto farmhouse and also transferred the name "Alla Pasina" that you can't touch!
By now he receives certificates in Italy and abroad. As "Les Disciples d'Auguste Escoffier 1991" the Fogher d'oro 1994, In 1999 he was awarded in Montecarlo by the Conseil Magistral De Monaco of the Gran Cordon D'Or De La Cuisine Francaise. He becomes a member of the FIC (Italian Chef Federation), of Italcuochi (Italian association of quality restaurants and pastry shops), of La Chaine De Rottisseurs (French Culinary Association) and above all of Euro-Toques the European Community of Cooks founded by the great Paul Bocuse and which also had among its presidents the late Gualtiero Marchesi.
The Michelin Guide inserts his restaurant in the list of Bib Gourmands, i.e. the best restaurants in terms of quality-price ratio that offer "a pleasant gastronomic experience, with a complete menu for less than 35 euros" marked by the big inflated face with the tongue sticking out of the Michelin mascot. "It's not just a family-run country house - write the judges of the Red Guide - the three intimate rooms are well cared for and the cuisine moves between tradition and imagination" suggesting at least three dishes to try: Cream of beans with Treviso radicchio , pistachio crusted pork tenderloin and chocolate and almond terrine with fondant.
And it is also time for Pasin, today a true Master, to publish one of his recipe books to convey all his love for the land that gave him birth, centered, coincidentally, on the formerly poor chicory which, like toads in fairy tales, he turned into a prince of the table: “One hundred easy recipes with Treviso red chicory”now in its third edition.
One hundred recipes dictated like a walk through the countryside and woods of the Treviso area, with the heart turned to the land and its products, and the mind to the novelties that are the spice of life.
Osteria alla Pasina
Via Marie, 3 – Dosson di Casier (Treviso) Italy
Tel +39 0422 382112 – Fax +39 0422 492322
Email [email protected]
