Obtained from the sacristy of the small Church of Sant' Angelo, built on the ruins of one of the oldest basilicas in Orvieto, built by Benedictine monks in the XNUMXth century on a pagan temple dedicated to Diana, the restaurant “I sette Consoli” in Orvieto, a stone's throw from the famous Duomo with the frescoes by Luca Signorelli, is a casket of territorial flavors guarded and managed by Anna Rita Simoncini. A former housewife turned cook, Simoncini has been able to implement with great skill the transposition of the home cooking of her region learned from her mother, her grandmothers and the family tradition in the kitchen of a restaurant that has made (apparent) simplicity pursued through great cooking techniques, obsessive attention to zero-km raw materials and the rediscovery of ancient flavours, its flag. Here everything speaks of absolute spontaneity and authenticity: A refined vegetable garden with roses and fruit trees furnished with a wrought iron gazebo gives its tasty fruits to the condiments and dishes. In the menu, farmyard animals are the protagonists, including the pigeon, the symbol of Orvieto, which Anna Rita cooks all year round in combination with seasonal products. The pastas and the bread are made every day in the house as well as the desserts.
If the cuisine is predominantly local, strongly linked to local origins and products, in the summer, however, its preparations range up to the sea for fish dishes that still reflect the traditions of home cooking.
Instead, the well-stocked cellar directed by her husband Mauro Stopponi ranges all over the world – do not call him Sommelier he loves to define himself as “simple drinker” a term that hides great competence of passion superior to that of a title – with over 700 selected labels from the Orvieto area, from Tuscia, from national and foreign wines, from large companies and small and unknown producers, to satisfy the noses and palates of the international clientele who flock to the small Umbrian village perched on a tuff cliff in summer to visit the Cathedral (1290) with its mosaic facade which houses a marble sculpture of the Pietà, the Pozzo di San Patrizio (XNUMXth century) with its extraordinary double spiral staircase and the network of underground caves, evidence of the town's Etruscan roots.
In love with their work, with their life, helped by their daughters Chiara and Serena who have been entrusted with the function of explaining the wines, Anna Rita and Mauro have created a welcoming, refined, attentive to detail lounge in their sacristy of I sette consoli. where they love to spend time with their customers and converse about their dishes with great simplicity, opening a virtual window on the charm of the Umbrian countryside to the flavors of good things such as the extraordinary pigeon, the "duck variation", foie gras escalope, fried lamb, sweetbreads and artichokes, risotto with snails, wild herbs and black garlic and fresh pasta necessarily flavored with the prized Umbrian truffle. and cod, raw materials that Anna Rita skilfully masters and enhances.
The recipe for Cream of cauliflower, stingray wings and black olives
This dish comes from Anna Rita and Mauro's philosophy of proposing simple dishes with seasonal raw materials, always remembering the Orvieto culinary tradition: recycled cuisine, made with few ingredients and exalting the EVO oil, the real protagonist in the area. "The use of ray - explains Anna Rita Simoncini - derives from the fact that in Orvieto, since there is no sea, the fish used were exclusively cod, anchovies and occasionally a few other things (including ray) which almost by chance they happened upon the fish counter”. And even in this we wanted to recover an ancient tradition.
Ingredients for 4 people:
2 stingray wings;
a cauliflower;
florets of Romanesco broccoli and colored cauliflower;
Taggiasca olives;
powder of dehydrated black olives;
onion, carrot, celery, tomato and sage to flavor the broth;
extra virgin olive oil;
salt and pepper.
Procedure:
Clean and peel the stingray wings. In a saucepan with the herbs and water, cook the breed avoiding boiling to keep it soft. Boil the cauliflower in salted water until it is very soft.
In another saucepan, cook the florets of the other cauliflowers and broccoli in salted water, keeping them very crunchy. Blend the cauliflower with a little cooking water and slowly add oil to obtain a smooth and velvety cream. Season with salt.
Divide the ray wings into slices. Cut the olives into pieces. Put the cauliflower cream in a bowl, add the crunchy broccoli florets, the skate, the Taggiasca olives and the black olive powder.
Add a drizzle of oil, a grind of pepper and serve piping hot.
The Seven Consuls restaurant
Piazza Sant'Angelo, 1a
05018 ORVIETO TR
0763343911 phone
email info@setteconsoli.it
Website www.isetteconsoli.it
