Pigeon with Scorzanera and Cardoncello in hay

Pigeon with Scorzanera and Cardoncello in hay

“Many years ago, when the food guide award dinners at the old Hilton in Rome (now Waldorf Astoria) were endless, at some point I had to abandon them due to professional commitments. But I was sorry to miss one memorable dish and so Heinz Beck admitted me into his kitchen.

Seeing him work, I fell in love with the physical commitment involved, and the quality that this produced. Heinz arrived to Rome in 1994 after an almost exclusively German experience. They entrusted him with the 'La Pergola', whose name was more of a Roman trattoria style than of a restaurant with starry aspirations. This immediately began an unthinkable revolution for the capital, which had remained far behind the evolution of the North. 'La Pergola' went crazy on “live” TV when on 'Porta a Porta' in 2001 we announced the achieving of their second Michelin star.

And again when he hosted the BMW Guide dinners (which consecrated Heinz as chef of the year in 2004, one year ahead of his third star), he had the great generosity of hosting great emerging chefs who would go on to establish themselves in the following years. The recipes he has dedicated to our wines are a proud plunge into the nostalgia of the past and a promise for the future.”

Bruno Vespa

The recipe

Ingredients for 4 persons

Pigeon
4 Pigeon breasts
Veal Stock
Mugolio Pine Bud Syrup

Scorzanera
1 kg Scorzanera root
Water
Milk
Extra virgin olive oil
salt
Vegetable broth
Hazelnut butter

Cardoncelli
4 Cardoncelli mushrooms
Extra virgin olive oil
Desalinated sea lettuce
Aromatic herbs (mint, thyme, parsley and rosemary)

Plate Decoration
Aromatic herbs

Preparation

Piccione: Remove the skin from the pigeon breasts. Season the breasts with oil and salt and sear them on the griddle. Finish cooking in the oven at 180 ° C for 1 minute and glaze with the veal stock.

Scorzanera: Wash and peel the scorzanera, then boil 4 roots in water and milk. Cut out some 6/7 cm batons from these and let dry for 10 hours then fry them in boiling oil. Cut the rest of scorzanera roots into small pieces and cook them in a vacuum bag with oil, salt and vegetable broth for 40 minutes at 90°C. Cut the remaining part of the scorzanera into small pieces and cook them in a vacuum bag with oil, salt and vegetable broth for 40 minutes at 90 ° C. Then drain, blend with the help of a thermomix, and add the hazelnut butter until a homogeneous puree is obtained.

Cardoncelli: Clean the cardoncelli mushrooms, season with oil and salt and wrap them one by one in the sea lettuce. Create a foil wrap with the hay and aromatic herbs, then place the mushrooms inside and cook on the barbeque for 30 minutes at 140°C.

Distribute the scorzanera puree on the dish. Place the scorzanera batons along the sides of the puree. Place the glazed pigeon breasts and the mushrooms in the center, having previously removed them from the hay and seasoned them with some pine bud syrup. Garnish the dish with some aromatic herbs