The autumn vegetable menu at Niko Romito's Reale

A view of Reale Casadonna

The inner courtyard of Reale Casadonna at night

The wall at the entrance, blooming with red roses

Niko Romito and Dino Como

Gianni Sinesi, sommelier at Reale

Celery, carrot and onion: it may resemble a vegetable broth, but there is no water inside. It is a double extraction of these three vegetables with raw oil and sage. Small caution: the wine is served afterwards, to allow it to be tasted purely, with immaculate taste buds

Broccoli leaf and aniseed: the leaf is blanched in water and salt, to bring out more colour and flavour, while the glaze is given by the broccoli flower, with drops of aniseed. An dish that represents Niko Romito's vegetable turn, it has now become a natural icon

First part of the leavened products: breadsticks with chestnut honey and solina flour and moist pizza with saragolla flour. Cristiana Romito explains: 'Moist because the dough is quite wet. It is prepared like polenta, with large amounts of water'.

Potato soup: two types of potatoes are used, both from Fucino. With the Agria potato, a broth is prepared under pressure, with herbs and spices, which is filtered in a quick passage with smoked black tea. With the red potato (drier), a creamy potato soup is prepared, julienne potatoes and a potato peel powder. Lemon, in juice and zest, completes the dish

Lentils, hazelnut and garlic: at the base is a lentil jelly (derived from their cooking water), in the middle a hazelnut emulsion and on top the Santo Stefano di Sessanio lentils, small and crunchy. The dish plays on the three textures, to be savoured together, drawing the spoon from bottom to top

Bread: an iconic course, which still remains on the tasting menu to emphasise its centrality and importance. It is made with white flour, sourdough and potatoes, with a crispy crust and soft, creamy interior

Alcoholic lettuce and milk cream: the lettuce is marinated in brine to fix its colour and structure, then glazed with lettuce reduction and a few drops of Monkey 47 gin as a vegetable note enhancer (this gin, with 47 botanicals, does this task excellently). At the base is a milk cream. If eaten all in one mouthful, there is a deflagration of flavour, with bitterness and lacticity balancing out in a persistent and pleasant length on the palate

Sliced porcini mushrooms: this is made from 100 per cent porcini mushrooms. They are creamed at the base and then sliced on top. To close, a fermented mushroom extract. It is the total representation of the porcini mushroom concept

Trout, almond and bay leaf (off-track, not included in the vegetable course): the idea is to do a great job on the structure of the trout. It is usually a tender fish, but in this case you want to emphasise its meatiness. It is placed in a net, like a sausage, and left to dry for two or three days, then cooked in the oven. Completing the dish is a cream of blended almonds, a trout base and a bay leaf extract, with powerful balsamic and bitter notes. The dish develops on a play of contrasts between the bay leaf and the sweetness of the fish and almonds

Cauliflower gratin: a great Niko Romito classic. It is steamed and then rests for 5 to 7 days, ripening naturally. They are then blended and water is extracted from them and brought to a reduction, which is then used to lacquer the cauliflower after the gratin. At the base is a cauliflower cream, made from the raw ingredient cut with a knife and stewed. Same element, multiple layers: it is the reincarnation of an ingredient

Red onion, Montepulciano and bread: the result is the recovery of a traditional recipe. Stale bread soaked in red onion water and then dried in the oven, almost to caramelisation. There is then a second step in which the bread is re-soaked in a red onion reduction, with an even more intense flavour, with the addition of pure Montepulciano and drops of sage and herbs in extraction

Tagliatelle, Parmigiano and lemon: it sounds simple, but the sauce is made without any added fat, working the Parmigiano with water, to maintain a lightness that enhances the pasta, hand-rolled on wood. Complete with lemon zest, to give fragrance

Radicchio and peanuts: at the base are peanuts in two textures, i.e. as a paste and as water. On top there’s radicchio, cooked for many hours in foil, so it acquires a tender texture. Here too there is a lot of play on the contrasts between bitterness and fat, in a winning involvement

Roasted escarole: it is marinated in potato water, then battered in the same potato water and cooked at a high temperature. At the base, a cream of escarole. The deviation between aromas and flavours is crazy: the aroma of the roasted potatoes is very noticeable on the nose, but the bite then betrays the true identity of the dish, namely the escarole, bitter and firm

Pumpkin tortelli: this is one of the symbols of fresh Italian stuffed pasta, seen through Niko Romito's eyes, i.e. as an unusual predessert that plays on the natural sweetness of the pumpkin. Two types of pumpkin are used: the (more watery) Violina for the creamy base, the (sweeter) Piacentina for the filling

Walnuts and Clementines: a dessert without added sugar, as Niko Romito has been proposing for years, which is based on the prized Lara walnut from Treviso. It consists of a walnut paste with bay leaf extraction and grated walnut, while at the base there is clementine juice, a clementine sauce and stewed clementines

The conclusion: winter melon, grapes, chocolate discs, lemon infusion