A delicate appetizer, all played on the monochrome pink, to celebrate love on Valentine's Day: Alessandro Della Tommasina along with Riccardo Monco of Enoteca Pinchiorri, show us how to make it.
The Dish
Alessandro Della Tommasina, who has been at Enoteca for twenty years, is the co-chef along with Riccardo Monco. "Valentine's Day for us will be an evening like any other, except for some homage to the occasion. Like this dish, which is inspired mainly by the color pink: it reminds me of my wife and my two daughters. At the base there is beet aioli, variegated with a sheep yogurt from one of our producers in San Casciano, then raw pink shrimp, which is not even marinated, peeled at the moment and plated, a very toasted crustacean oil, obtained from heads and shells gently cooked until they break apart, left to rest for at least one night, fermented currants with salt for savoriness and acidity, a touch of reduction of purple cabbage with elderberry vinegar for floral notes, raw undressed radicchio and a final spritz of rose essence."
The pairing in a temple of wine cannot be accidental: "We serve a Tavel Vintage 2019 Domaine L'Anglore by Eric Pfifferling," illustrates sommelier Davide D'Alterio. "Tavel is an AOC that produces only rosé wines, in the southern Rhône. The old and gnarled vines of Grenache, Cinsault, and Carignan grow on sandy and pebbly soils, bathed in the warm and luminous sun, giving birth to wines dense with character, deeply savory and enveloping. Since the dish is marked by sharp spikes of acidity, it will be the layered savoriness of the wine that balances the richly fatty and persistent sweetness of the shrimp and the sauce. The dramatic finish with which the wine bids farewell is filled with very persistent floral memories, dancing with the sweet vegetable echoes of cabbage and beets. A pairing that doesn't boast in intensity, but in breadth, in depth, demonstrating that it's not the volume at which music is played that makes it indelible in memory."
Variegated Pink Shrimp
Ingredients for 4 people
For the beetroot aioli
- 150 g cooked and marinated beetroot
- 250 g cooked white potatoes
- 3 hard-boiled egg yolks
- 400 g grapeseed oil
- 20 g blanched garlic
- 150 g sheep yogurt
- 30 g purple cabbage juice reduced with elderberry vinegar
For the pink shrimp
- 12 very fresh pink shrimp
- 12 g fried shrimp head and shell oil
- 16 currants fermented with 2% salt and raspberry vinegar
- 12 tips of Treviso radicchio
- Salt
- Natural rose essence
Method
Prepare the beet aioli by blending in the Thermomix the cooked and marinated beetroot, egg yolks, boiled potatoes, blanched garlic, grapeseed oil, and salt. In a bowl, lightly season the sheep yogurt with a pinch of salt and put it in a squeeze bottle.
Reduce the extracted purple cabbage juice with a Greenstar and season it with elderberry vinegar.
Clean the shrimp from the shell, thread, and heads.
Slowly fry the shrimp shells and heads in seed oil until golden brown, and extract the oil.
Plating
In a deep dish, simultaneously pour the beet aioli, purple cabbage juice, and sheep yogurt, creating a variegated pink effect.
Place the raw pink shrimp on top and garnish with fermented currants and drops of fried shrimp oil.
Finish with raw undressed radicchio tips and a spritz of red rose essence.
Address
Ristorante Enoteca Pinchiorri
Via Ghibellina n 87 - 50122 Florence
Phone. +39 055 242757
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