LuxuryLaunches recently made a visit to Botticino, Trident BKC for an Italian dinner night. Of all the delicacies served we were particularly inquisitive about an attractive striped preparation and couldn’t resist asking Chef Sushil Multani if he could elaborate on how it’s made to look that way.
We were overwhelmed when he decided to share the recipe with us. So, brimming with excitement and a modest sense of achievement, we entered the chef’s kitchen and learned how Scallops & Prawns Agnalotti, with fennel cream, pernod, olive tapenade and orange foam is made.
The above image shows what it looks like post plating.
As I entered, the chef had already kept all ingredients ready beside the pasta rolling machine. Here is that secret list of ingredients used….
- 200 GMS – Scallop
- 300 GMS – Prawns
- 10 GMS – Squid ink
- 100 GMS – Semolina
- 20 NOS – Egg yolk
- 2 NOS – Egg white
- 400 GMS – Refined flour (Farina 00 grade)
- 30 ML – Olive oil
- 5 GMS – Basil
- 200 GMS – Fennel
- .5 GMS – Saffron
- 100 ML – Orange juice
- 2 GMS – Lecithin
- 10 GMS – Salt
- 50 GMS – Butter
- 10 GMS – Dill leaves
- 20 GMS – Kalamata olives
- 10 GMS – Garlic
- 5 GMS – Parsley
- 100 GMS – Mascarpone cheese
- 10 GMS – Onion
First, we began with the dough-making process. There were two kinds of dough made, one with the plain flour which was the regular white dough for the pasta sheet, and the other using squid ink, which rendered it a black colour and is used to make spaghetti. Once the pasta is rolled and flattened, we arrange these squid ink spaghetti pasta on top of the plain pasta sheet to get the lining. So, this is how it gets its bright striped look. The chef told us that squid ink is quite a commonly used ingredient for making differently coloured pasta in various regions across Italy.
Next we prepare the filling for the agnalotti/ravioli. To make the filling, take prawns, mascarpone cheese, egg white, basil and salt and blend it, making a fine paste. Chop scallops and add them into above filling. You may want to learn how to shuck scallops for this.
This filling needs to be stuffed inside the striped ravioli. Make agnalotti of size 4*4 cm. with the filling inside, and cut around the edges/border to give it a neat squarish shape. Once ready, we blanch them for around three minutes.
Now, we come to the sauce making process. There are mainly two different kinds of sauces used in the above preparation. One would be the base sauce namely Fennel Cream, and the other is the Olive Tapenade, used sparingly around the fennel cream and agnalotti base to add a different flavor and seasoning to it.
Now, we take a pan, heat butter in it, and add dill leaves and vegetable stock. Season with salt.
For fennel cream, cut the fennel bulb into fine slices. Heat a pan, add onion, sauté for a few minutes and add fennel to this. Sauté it again. Add vegetable stock and saffron. Cook it well and make a fine puree.
To make olive tapenade, heat a pan and add fine chopped garlic, sauté it, now add chopped olives and finish with extra virgin olive oil.
Last but not the least, we must now prepare Orange Foam for garnishing. I was quite curious about how this would be prepared and it was quite amusing to see such a simple method of making this. Take chilled orange juice, and add lecithin to it. Blend it well (yes, using a simple hand blender) to get the foam texture.
Finally, coming to one of the most important steps of cooking, this would be plating. To plate the dish, put the fennel sauce on the base, place agnalotti on top of it. Carefully, put orange foam on each agnalotti. Drizzle olive tapenade on the sides of the pasta. A few peashoots may be added for garnish purposes. And voila, we have a bite of Botticino on our plate!!
This video will further run you through the steps and present a snapshot of how to go about making the above, although all ingredients are not displayed in the video. Well now, we all can make a modest attempt at cooking pasta the way its cooked in celebrity chefs’ kitchens!
Address:
Trident-BKC,
C 56, G Block,
Bandra Kurla Complex,
Mumbai 400 051, India
Tel No : 91 22 6672 7777
[Trident-Hotels-BKC]
