Break it down

Now that I have a moment of time, let's break it down.

A little of the Righi la Taverna Menu. Lets start with pastry since that is what I currently know most of.

First and foremost:

--Semifreddo al cioccolato fondente con cuore di mascarpone e salsa alle amarene con spuma di birra!!!! Oh my god. How is this possibile?? Its my dream dessert and executed perfectly. In English, it is basically chocolate gelato that is on the firmer side. We form two disks and sandwich mascarpone whipped cream in the middle. There is a sour cherry sauce drizzled on the plate, with a few marinated cherries as well and then, the best part, a beer foam!! Beer foam! It's chocolate. It's cherries. And it's beer. It's incredible. I think it's genius because it's ingredients people are familiar and comfortable with, making it very popular, and it's traditional (semifreddo) but is playful (beer foam). It's a party in your mouth, basically.

--Raviolo di mandorle e cassata su zuppetta d'arance. English: almond ricotta ravioli in an orango soup. I like this one because it takes a usually savory dish (Raviolo and pomodori or any sauce for that matter) and makes it a dessert. It also makes use of seasonal ingredients, oranges. The hot ravioli is filled with a ricotta, almond, chocolate, orange zest mixture and the orange soup (zest, fruit, and juice) is served cold. Pretty interesting if you ask me.

--Crema di fave con gelatino di crue di cioccolato. Another oh my god. Are you kidding me? English: fava bean purée with chocolate gelatine. Ok, stop one second before you judge it to quickly. This dish is one of my favorites. At first, The combination of fava bean and chocolate sounds crazy, in a bad way. But the purée is made sweet and blended completely smooth as silk. A few fava beans are left whole for texture. Then, there are 3 different chocolate gelatins: one milk chocolate, one semisweet and the other dark. The flavor is great!! The texture is completely smooth except for a few whole favas and the color contrast on the dish is incredible. I have a picture and it's beautiful: almost a neon green with shades of brown. Genius, again.

--Passatelli al cacao con latte al rhum e croccante di nocciole. Again, this takes a usually savory dish and makes it a dessert. I also love this because passatelli is a very traditional pasta made in the Emilia Romagna region: it is a fresly made, very soft noodle, traditionally served in brodo(broth). But here, it is made into a chocolate version, served over a white chocolate rum soup/sauce topped with hazelnut brittle. Sooooo good. Playful take on tradition and savory. Creative and delicious.

Those are my top favorite desserts. The others are of course good but I had to deconstruct my favorites for you. :) plus, I'm proud to say that I can now make all of the above listed items! I've never worked pastry before in my life and honestly wasn't interested in it either. But after working it for a month, I have a new appreciation for the art and technique. And it's also good to know how to do a little of everything. Be well rounded right? Yes. That's it for now... I'll write about antipasti and primi next.