Piedmont at Harrods

Last round in London for Stelle di Stelle: the collaboration between Identità Golose and Harrods, the most famous department store in the world, will end at the end of January. The project lasted five months and involved the chefs of five of the most important Italian restaurants who together brought a total of 13 Michelin stars to London. The last one will be Enrico Crippa, chef at restaurant Piazza Duomo in Alba, three stars and number 39 in the 2014 San Pellegrino’s 50 World’s Best Restaurants.

During the entire month of January Crippa and his menu will be at restaurant The Winery inside Harrods. Before him, in Brompton Road, there were: Carlo Cracco, Enrico and Roberto Cerea, Gennaro Esposito, Annie Féolde and Italo Bassi.

The choice made by Enrico Crippa with regards to the dishes he’ll bring to Stelle di Stelle was very strong and precise: «I wanted to base my menu on dishes that are emblematic of the Langhe and Piedmont, focused on territory and tradition, giving less space to recipes that are more connected with my personal experience. The choice was also inspired by the idea that the guests visiting us will need to recover their new energies after the visit to the department store, which can be very demanding».

January, at Harrods, is also the hectic sales season, so this thought couldn’t be more appropriate. However, it was not the only one directing Enrico Crippa to this kind of menu: «Of course we had to think about the difficulties of managing an away game with a kitchen that is so based on personality and gestures as the one we present at Piazza Duomo, because in recent years our organisation was strongly connected with the two and a half hectares wide vegetable garden we have in Barolo: it was impossible to take with us to London all that we produce and use here at the restaurant».

The last thought made by the chef in Alba was instead his desire to tell about his land: «We want the international public to understand what the Langhe offer, also with the idea of inviting them to visit our territory. Moreover, Piedmontese food is decisively suitable for the winter months: boiled meat, braised meat, agnolotti, are all dishes in which meat in clearly the protagonist. From start to finish, this menu tries to concentrate the best that Piedmont has to offer, in terms of recipes and raw materials».

Of all the delicious dishes in this menu, it is worth spending a few words on the dessert. The Hazelnut cake made with Alba "Relanghe" hazelnuts with cold zabaglione with Moscato d’Asti by Vignaioli di Santo Stefano is indeed the result of a long study conducted by Crippa and his team, which led to its distribution both in the shops in Alba and in the two restaurants, namely Piazza Duomo and La Piola: «First of all, we wanted to make a cake without flour, only using hazelnuts, hazelnut paste, sugar, eggs, butter and hazelnut flour. This is a cake that every celiac can eat. We made tests for almost two years to present a cake that could stay fresh for at least three months without using any kind of preservative. It’s also perfect for breakfast, it is marvellously paired with coffee also thanks to the toasting of the hazelnuts, which highlights the flavour of the tonda gentile di Piemonte variety even more».

Here’s the complete menu created by Enrico Crippa for Harrods:

Veal in tuna sauce
Alta Langa potato cream, quail egg with lapsang souchong
Agnolotti del Plin with three roast meats and roast jus
Braised Fassona with Barolo and stone-milled polenta
Hazelnut cake with Alba Relanghe hazelnuts, with cold zabaglione with Moscato d’Asti by Vignaioli di Santo Stefano

Hazelnut cake with Alba "Relanghe" hazelnuts, with cold zabaglione with Moscato d’Asti by Vignaioli di Santo Stefano

Stelle di Stelle received the patronage of ExpoMilano 2015, Fipe and Ebnt. The project was created in collaboration with Consorzio Tutela Grana Padano, Acqua Panna and S. Pellegrino, Lavazza, Birra Moretti, Ferrari, Molino Quaglia. The price of the menu is 65 pounds for lunch (85 pounds including drinks) and 115 for dinner (140 pounds including wines). For reservations, write to stelle.di.stelle@harrods.com.