In Milan's golden fashion district known throughout the world as a luxury district with its jewellers, boutiques and clothing showrooms, design and furniture shops among the most exclusive and expensive, among historic buildings with high-sounding names such as the Poldi Pezzoli and Bagatti Valsecchi house-museums, Palazzo Morando, the Grand Hotel et de Milan, Palazzo Gallarati Scotti and Palazzo Borromeo d'Adda, in Via del Gesù where in the 1500s the monks of a monastery cultivated herbs and vegetables, today there is an exclusive Four Seasons hotel. The ancient monastic soul of attention to nature, to the cultivation of the vegetable garden, to respect for the passing of the seasons, to herbal medicine, reverberates in our times in the cuisine of Zelo, the restaurant of the Four Seasons today entrusted to the expert hands of chef Fabrizio Borraccino which takes care of its dual identity: during the day, Zelo Bistrot, with a menu full of delicious and light dishes; in the evening, with a refined and gourmet offer. Seasonality and sustainability are the gospel - it is appropriate to say, with reference to the monastic life that was once led here - of the Chef's proposal, which transports guests on a sensory journey through the great Italian gastronomic traditions, enhancing their identity and history with a touch of refined innovative modernity without falling into experiments that distort its meaning.
“In my kitchen – says Borraccino – regional recipes and traditional raw materials interact in dishes characterized by essential aesthetics and authentic flavours.” Indeed, Fabrizio Borraccino bases his cuisine on a contemporary vision of Italian gastronomy that aims at the rediscovery of nostalgic flavors and at the exaltation of the raw materials and the terroir that distinguishes them. A balanced cuisine that seeks to surprise to arouse emotions.
Originally from Abruzzo, Borraccino after the hotel management school in Pescara was able to consolidate his skills by working alongside great masters, such as Antonio Guida, Pierre Gagnaire and Gordon Ramsay to then land in the kitchen of the restaurant "Il Pievano" of the Hotel il Castello of Spaltenna, assuming responsibility as Executive Chef, from here he went to the luxurious Borgo San Felice, Relais & Château 5* in the Sienese Chianti Classico until he conquered a Michelin star at Poggio Rosso in Castelnuovo Berardenga in Chianti. For the convivial occasions of Christmas and New Year's Eve Fabrizio Borraccino offers a refined first course where the Plin tradition is combined with a modern and innovative vision of the kitchen, but as he likes to say with "feet firmly in the ground"
The recipe for Ravioli Del Plin stuffed with ossobuco, saffron pistils from L'Aquila and sage
Recipe for 4 pcs
Ingredients for the filling of ravioli del Plin:
2 veal osso buchi (300 g)
130 gr ricotta vaccine
60 gr Parmigiano Reggiano DOP (aged 24 months)
60 gr onion
30 gr celery
20 gr carrots
1 dl white wine
Aromatic bunch (thyme, marjoram, rosemary, bay leaf and sage)
Veal broth
Sarawak black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Sale
Ingredients for the egg pasta:
300 gr flour 00
200 gr re-milled semolina
350 gr egg yolk
Method
In a casserole brown with a drizzle of oil: celery, carrots and onions cut into mirepoix, add the ossobuco seasoned with salt and pepper and blanched separately, the herb bunch and crushed black pepper. Shade everything with white wine, let it evaporate and then add the veal broth, cover with baking paper and cook for about 2 hours. Once the ossobuco is soft, cool it, chop it with a knife, add the ricotta, the Parmigiano Reggiano, the reduced cooking juices, the marjoram and the chopped thyme, the freshly ground black Sarawak pepper, a little EVO oil and, if necessary, very little salt.
Prepare the egg pasta with 00 flour, re-milled semolina, and egg yolk, leave it to rest for at least 1 hour, roll it out very thin and fill with the ossobuco filling, closing them in Plin ways.
Cook the Plin in salted water, coat them with malga butter, serve them on a light cream of Parmigiano Reggiano and L'Aquila saffron, the cooking juices from the ossobuco, to complete the dish a few chervil leaves, curly lettuce and late-season radicchio. a few leaves of dried sage, a few pistils of L'Aquila saffron and some borage flowers.
