Fregula knödel, burnt pasta soup, livers and S. Massenza broccoli

Alfio Ghezzi

For 10 people

Fregula
500 g of rough fregula
2 l of stock
200 g of homemade bread dried and the oven and crumbled
100 g of Grana Padano
1 scallion

Stock
1 chicken (2 kg)
1 beef blade
1 toasted onion
2 sticks of celery
1 carrot
1 bay leaf
a few black peppercorns
10 l of water

Burnt pasta soup
110 g of pasta
100 g of speck
20 g of butter
1 sprig of thyme
1 clove of garlic
1 l of stock

Livers
250 g of chicken livers
250 g of butter
25 g of brandy
50 g of Madeira
50 g of Port
50 g of scallion
1/2 a clove of garlic
1 sprig of thyme
3 whole eggs
9 g of salt

 

 

 

 

Fregula
Chop the scallion and sweat it in the butter. Add the fregula and cook it like a risotto, adding the stock a little at a time. When almost cooked, take off the heat and stir with the bread and Grana Padano. Using a half-sphere mould, make "knödels” (when cooked the pieces of fregula will look like the cubes of bread normally used to make knödels) pressing the fregula into the moulds.

Stock
Proceed as for traditional stock, skimming off impurities and leaving to consume slowly for 7-8 hours, then filter through gauze. The stock must be an amber colour and have a few spots of fat on the surface.

Burnt pasta soup
Cut the slices of speck into strips with a lot of fat and sweat them in a pan with the flavourings. Add the power, ground into powder, and toast it until it acquires a nice dark gold colour. Add the stock, cook gently for 20 minutes and filter through a fine Chinoise sieve.

Livers
Eliminate the nerves and fat from the livers. Melt a spoonful of butter in a pan, add the garlic, thyme and finely sliced scallion and leave to soften. Add the wines and the brandy, then leave to reduce by 2/3 and filter.
Blend the livers in a Thermomix with the reduction, eggs and softened butter. Filter through a Chinoise sieve and pour into a terrine previously lined with lard.
Steam at 75 °C for about 1 hour and then chill to 4 °C. Cut into cubes.

Broccoli
Eliminate the outer leaves and cook the broccoli, soaking them in plenty of well salted water for about 4-5 minutes. Drain and chill. When ready to use, regenerate them by returning them to the cooking water, cut in half and serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Place the knödel in the middle of the plate, pour over the soup and arrange the liver terrine and broccoli. Complete with a drizzle of Garda extra virgin olive oil.