"Espressa" Pavese soup with saffron pasta timbale

For 4 people

Soup
500 g of chicken stock
300 g of quail bones
1 carrot
1 onion
3 sticks of celery

Pasta timbale
320 g of dry pasta
120 g of unsalted butter
100 g of grated Grana Padano
1.5 l of hot salted water
10 ml of white wine vinegar
2 g of saffron pistils
fine salt

Quail eggs
4 quail eggs
300 g of water
10 g of white vinegar
fine salt

Garnish
20 g of thinly sliced fennel
2 g of Maldon salt
Extra virgin olive oil

Soup
Gently fry the roughly chopped vegetables in a pan, add the quail bones and the chicken stock, bring to the boil and skim. Lower the heat and leave to cook for about 3 hours. Filter and keep warm.

Pasta timbale
Heat the pasta in a pan, add the saffron and then add the salted water a little at a time, and cook. Take off the heat and stir in the butter, Grana Padano and vinegar, adding salt to taste. Leave the pasta compact and divide it between 4 buttered moulds, pressing gently with a spoon. Keep warm.

Quail eggs
Bring the water to the boil in a pan, add the vinegar and use a spoon to create a whirl. Pour in the quail eggs (shelled) one by one, lower the heat and cook for about 2 minutes. Use a pasta spoon to scoop out the eggs and stop cooking by immersing them in water and ice.

Garnish
Turn out the pasta timbale, placing a quail egg on top, with the fennel dressed with a little extra virgin oil. End with the Maldon salt and serve with the hot stock.