THE JOURNEY OF TASTE CONTINUES... BY LALLA

Article by LALLA - CUOCA E SOMMELIER A DOMICILIO

Our JOURNEY OF TASTE continues among the dishes of SPRING ... and this time I will tell you about a simple but hugely effective recipe, ideal as a starter:

ZANCA AND PATRESI ONION PUDDING WITH POTATO PURÉE, GINGER AND CORIANDER

Making an onion pudding is very simple but  I assure you the result is anything but ordinary. This dish, originally devised by the well-known Chef Igles Corelli, whom I had the honour of meeting several years ago, when he was not yet famous and was part of the kitchen brigade of the well-known Restaurant “Il Trigabolo” in Argenta, in the province of Ferrara, has been reworked by me in an “Elban” version. He served it in a far more elegant and refined version, using foie gras, thereby giving character to an ingredient considered humble, as the onion is.

In my recipe I will use the Zanca and Patresi Onion and I will replace the foie gras with  the potato which, having a neutral flavour, enhances the main characteristic of this type of vegetable, delicate in taste yet clean and decisive; in this case I like the idea of bringing out the single ingredient, above all when it is considered “humble”, finding it again on the plate and being able to recognise it for what it is, without too much sophistication.

These onions are very particular, …indeed the seeds are handed down from mother to child, and only some twenty families hold the seed and act as "Keepers".  This rarity is exclusive to these areas; it loves granite soil parched by the sun and the company of the Mediterranean scrub.

At the Orto dei Semplici on the island of Elba, a number of experts have recovered some thirty products, recreating a true heritage of nature, which was promptly adopted by 21 island Eco-Hotels.

In the vegetable gardens and orchards of these hotels, tended like fine drawing rooms, every single plant is catalogued and followed through its growth: here you find the typical Aromatic Herbs, Olive trees, ancient Vines, Lemons and Mandarins, Morello cherries, Medlars, Melon Figs and Freestone Peaches, Elder, Black Cabbage and other rarities such as the Zanca and Patresi Onion. Needless to say, the dishes that come from them have a completely new taste for our palates, accustomed to quite other things. The Orto dei Semplici Elbano and several exceptional partners such as the Tuscan Archipelago Park, the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, the Associazione Albergatori and Legambiente, as well as the Province, the Region and the Municipality of Rio nell'Elba, have made this project possible and keep all the relevant information, publications and detailed botanical records fruit by fruit.

The Zanca and Patresi Onion, which we are going to use in our preparation,  is sweet and delicate, and as a further sound alternative for its use it can be excellent for reviving the medieval Florentine Carabaccia, a dish present in recipe books ever since the Renaissance.