Andrea Mattei says everything is great at Borgo Santo Pietro, a prestigious Relais & Châteaux in Chiusdino, 40 minutes from Siena, going towards the sea. Then he lists this year’s many projects: «We doubled the farm’s size, from 40 to 80 hectares [out of the total 200 of the estate], with a farm, a huge organic vegetable garden and we also make cured meat now! We have completely renovated the area dedicated to the traditional restaurant offer: we now have a real farm where we serve hand-cut Tuscan prosciutto, pappa al pomodoro, risotto with squid ink, steaks from our pigs... This is where chef Stefano Pezzini works». Then there’s the snack bar offering pizzas (read here: La pizza al Relais di Andrea Mattei), hamburgers, club sandwiches. And chocolate. Plus they make honey too.
«We’ve opened 4 more rooms, 2 with a private swimming pool. We’ve finished planting our vineyard. We have 300 sheep, so we can offer lamb and cheese aromatised with herbs from our garden, as well as homemade robiola and yogurt for breakfast». Then we have oxen, pigs, hens, alpacas, and peacocks:
Borgo Santo Pietro, owned by a couple of building entrepreneurs from Denmark, has 5 gardeners, 10 farmers, and a total staff of 65 people. «We even have a sailboat,
Satory by Borgo Santo Pietro, 42 metres and 5 cabins, if our guests want to enjoy the sea as well. The wine list required a big investment and we now have some 1100 wines», with sommelier
Marcello Corradi. In Florence, there’s urban
Borgo Santo Pietro in the City; and we could go on and on.
Crispy courgettes with saffron
Crispy oak leaf and spelt preserved in vinegar
«Most of all, our style is becoming fully accomplished, both in terms of overall concept and of each idea and detail – adds Mattei – I’m working with oak, cypress and pine leaves, as well as with cherry tomatoes from our vegetable garden [which supplies 200 species of vegetables, 20 of tomatoes alone, and 40 types of flowers and 50 of aromatic herbs]», and he lists some old and new dishes: Smoked chicken sweetbreads, eel and vermouth from Prato, «inspired by the Tuscan cibreo», Squilla mantis, peas and cypress, Lamb, courgettes, elderberry, Black cod, chargrilled aubergine and fermented plums, Crispy oak leaf and spelt preserved in vinegar, Risotto, buttermilk and tomato …
An intense period: in his third year in Chiusdino (he arrived in the spring of 2015) this calm and enthusiast, rigorous and brilliant, talented and modern chef, feels he’s in the middle of a career explosion. Born in Pietrasanta in 1979, a career that had him debut as commis at
Hotel Byron in Forte dei Marmi in 1996, where he returned as chef in 2003. In between,
Alain Ducasse at
Plaza Athenée in Paris, «
Jean-François Piège was the sous at the time», and
Angelo Paracucchi,
Valentino Marcattilii, as well as
Enoteca Pinchiorri.
Risotto, buttermilk and tomato
A very sound curriculum, keen on France rather than the Spanish avantgarde: but
Mattei at
Meo Modo – the gourmet restaurant within
Borgo Santo Pietro – presents most of all a 100% Italian personal interpretation, with a strong Tuscan and totally contemporary influence that enhances the products from the estate, especially the tons of vegetables and herbs that grow here.
Black cod, chargrilled aubergines and fermented plums
is really a great place for Italian cuisine.
Mattei guides a team that runs as smoothly as a Swiss watch:
Andrea Ferrari and
Simone Di Maio with him in the kitchen as sous chefs, and the excellent pastry chef
Diego Poli, born in 1988 in Pietrasanta. In the dining room, there’s
Andrea Salvatori, born in 1986 and previously at
Dal Pescatore,
Perbellini and
Enoteca Pinchiorri, and
Nicola Di Lieto, same age as the latter, but from Nocera Superiore.
Chocolate in the Tuscan countryside
During a meal we had some time ago, the salad with 25 vegetables from the kitchen garden, with beetroot cream and cereal biscuit served with mushrooms, mushroom sponge, musk aroma and tomato infusion was delicious. The same applies to the
Verna wheat tagliolini with a cream of the same wheat and apple geranium, mackerel cooked at low temperature and hemp seeds, as well as the
Roasted seabass with seabass carpaccio, chard, oats and peanuts from Venturina. Not to mention the meat, we’re in the heart of Tuscany. In the photo gallery, all the dishes we tasted. What a great dinner.
Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso
