It was great fun and a wonderful experience. Check the menu:
Starters
- Swordfish carpaccio with green sauce and mustard
- Vol-au-vent with cheese, ham and crab
- Squared crepes with leek, salmon and robiola cheese
- Scallops au gratin
- Black gnocchi with saffron and sea bass sauce
Lemon sorbet
Main course
- Bouillabaisse
- Greens au beurre
Dessert and coffees
- Panettone cake with mascarpone sauce
- Gobino's Gianduiotti
- Peyrano Creations
- Fairtrade coffee, local roasting
Wines
- Gavi di Gavi 2008 - Fontanafredda
- Roero Arneis Sito dei Fossili 2008 - Tenuta Bric Cenciurio di Barolo
- Asti Spumante Mondoro
Just few notes:
- The order of the starters is important. They go up in warmth and taste, from the most delicate to the stronger (the scallops), then the gnocchi could be like a separate dish - a kind of first course for Italians.
- The gnocchi are just fantastic. The secret is in the potatoes (I think I have just been lucky I have found some "old potatoes"). The sauce can be too plain sometimes. It is a difficult balance of very delicate ingredients - sea bass and saffron, mixed with a bit of cream - that will hardly be right the first time.
- The bouillabaisse fits perfectly here. When you have finished with the starters, your guests will be scared by the main course: it is easy to slip into a too rich course. The bouillabaisse is just perfect. The warm and tasty stock, slowly cooked the day before, and the tenderness and delicate fish make the hole course highly enjoyable.
- If it is not Christmas, just forget the panettone (actually this time I did not bake it). You may go for an apple tart or something warm but not too rich. Actually, I would love to try the mascarpone sauce with an apple tart!
Enjoy!
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