At the Barbagianni restaurant, Lorenzo Neri presents his dish “Gnocchi, red turnip, eel, fermented turnip greens,” a crossover between the culinary traditions of Italy, Japan, France, and Scandinavia that reflects the chef's formative experiences.

The base of the recipe is gnocchi, a classic Italian dish, colored with beetroot. The eel, sourced from the Arno River, is prepared using methods reminiscent of Japanese cuisine: it is cooked in smoked butter and then glazed with soy sauce. Fermented turnip greens introduce an element that evokes the cuisines of Northern Europe, adding a tannic note to the dish. A reference to France is present in the beurre blanc, which is revisited using kefir whey produced directly at Barbagianni. This technical twist results in an alcohol-free sauce with a lighter texture.

RECIPE

Ingredients for 4

BEETROOT GNOCCHI

• 250 g potatoes

• 50 g 00 flour

• 1 beet

• 1 egg

• Salt

Peel the beetroot, cut it into four pieces, boil it for 45 minutes, drain it and leave it to cool. Blend it until you obtain a smooth purée and leave it to rest overnight on a cloth laid on a perforated baking tray.

Cook the whole potatoes in a steam oven for 30 minutes at 98°C and then for another 30 minutes at 160°C without steam. Once cooked, peel and mash them. Combine the mashed potatoes, 50 g of beetroot juice, the egg, the flour, and salt, and knead. Form into loaves and cut into 15 g pieces. Shape the gnocchi with your hands and set aside.

FERMENTED TURNIP GREENS

• 1 turnip green

• Salt to taste

Peel the turnip greens and vacuum seal with 3% non-iodized salt. Leave to ferment at 25°C for 4-5 days.

SMOKED EEL

• 1 eel

• Smoked butter

• Salt to taste

• Soy sauce to taste

Remove the skin from the eel, fillet it and make small incisions with a knife to break up the bones. Leave in running water for about an hour. Overlap two filets and tie them with string before placing them in a vacuum bag with smoked butter for 2 hours at 80°C. Then glaze them with soy sauce and bake at 160°C for 20 minutes.

KEFIR BEURRE BLANC

• 100 g butter

• 100 g kefir

• Salt to taste

Boil the kefir until the whey separates. Strain and use the liquid to make a beurre blanc

by whisking with the butter and adding salt.

FINISH

• 100 g beetroot jus

• Butter to taste

• Chervil to taste

• Red turnip leaves to taste

After boiling the gnocchi in salted water, drain and glaze with the beetroot jus and a knob of butter. Arrange on a plate and top with a cube of smoked eel and a rolled slice of fermented turnip. Complete with chervil and red turnip leaves and the kefir sauce.