The new dishes presented at Valeggio del Mincio, on the 6th of May, 2011, by chefs Nadia Pasquali and Franco Favaretto for the inauguration evening of the gastronomic review, Cena di Note produced by the enogastronomic magazine Papageno, and by Maestro Alessandro Tortato.
Nadia Pasquali, from the “Alla Borsa” restaurant, introduced “La Goccia del Mincio”, a new tortello pasta dish inspired by Italy’s Risorgimento.
In a drop of emerald green creamed peas, 3 skillfully placed, refined tortelli, with a soft filling of “bisi di Bosio” (peas from Bosio), alpine Monteveronese cheese, and San Secondo shoulder. It made one want to shout “Viva Verdi”, motto of the unification of Italy.
This dish was inspired by a northern Italian friend and by the colours of Italy’s “Tricolour” flag—green from the peas, red from the ham, and white from the monteveronese cheese, and dedicated by Nadia Pasquali to Giovanni Rana.
Nadia said: “Describing Giovanni Rana is like trying to write a spring day… It is impossible! So I thought of Giovanni Rana by translating him into... pasta: the sweetness of the peas, combined with the flavour of prosciutto and the colour green, symbol of joviality and hope.” Nadia added.
“La Goccia del Mincio” is in fact, a draft NADIA paying a compliment to GIOVANNI RANA:
a true, vivacious entrepreneur from Veneto; a winner who has made his face an inimitable brand; a business style typically Venetian: authentic and practical; warm and joyful.
Thus did Nadia Pasquali, after having introduced her magnificent Tortellini Nodo D’amore (“Knot of Love”), the real tortellini from Valeggio sul Mincio, mesmerised the public with La Goccia del Mincio. Presented during the inauguration evening of the gastronomic Rassegna, Cena di Note at the Villa Sigurtà on 6th May...
Royally wrapped by a magnificent light show celebrating the Italian Flag.
The public gave her an enthusiastic reception: elegant guests liked both the musical leitmotif “Italian drawing room Romances” sung by the tenor Nicola Pamio, and the classic Borsa “Knots of Love” that opened the gastronomic evening with their seductive sage perfume.
Nadia’s vivacity reaches its peak with the romantic and fantastic introduction of the Goccia del Mincio:
this delicate and curious dish, flowing to the palate like millions of drops from the river after which the dish is named...
The dedication to the Veronese Giovanni Rana was appropriate for one who, like Nadia, feels like the lowliest neophyte when compared to the complete, international, fame of the World’s King of Pasta: Giovanni Rana.
Partner in gastronomy, and charming collegue, from the restaurant Baccalá Divino di Mestre: Franco Favaretto.
He excited the palate with the tricolour Baccalá Mantecato (“Blended Cod”), served on warm crostini made from cereal grain bread.
Also excellent was the Asparago in Laguna (“Asparagus in a Lake”): a soup of dried cod and two asparagus served in genuine Gòti di Fornase glasses from Topdomus Design to emphasise the product’s origins, and to represent, in a fabulous dialogue of colour and flavour; a dish where Franco Favaretto expresses his genius and his carnivalesque joyfulness.
The evening continues with a dish of lamb with thyme, expressing the coarse reality of the Abruzzo cooking style, repeating the evening’s musical theme, and ends with a variety of sweet surprises which dot the buffet with the most important references to the Italian patisserie: from the strudel from Alto Adige, to the Neapolitan babá, via the classic tiramisù and fingers of trifle.
A gustatory dance, combined with the seductive wines from the cellars of Custoza, at the Villa Sigurtà kindly made available by Josè Carlos Berdejo y Sigurtà and by his wife Clelia Muchetti.
Villa Sigurtà in Valeggio sul Mincio, enrobed and brillant in the play of light, which, for the whole evening, exalted the Italian Tricolour to celebrate with honour a nation, the Risorgimento, and the region’s specialities that truly form the most celebrated Italian heritage: our Italian cuisine.
