This dish was created by Guido Paternollo, chef of the gastronomic restaurant “Pellico 3 Milano” of the “Park Hyatt Milano” hotel. The Parck Hyatt Milano is an exclusive and elegant 5-star luxury hotel located in the historic heart of Milan.
The hotel building was built between 1874 and 1875 at the same time as the construction of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The renovation of the hotel was carried out by architect Ed Tuttle and it opened in 2003.
It is a hotel with a modern and innovative style, sophisticated luxury perfectly placed inside a classic nineteenth-century building.
I had the fortune and pleasure of being a guest of the Hotel at its opening together with the European Grand Jury for some important wine tastings. On that occasion I met Simone Giorgi who was the restaurant manager at the time. An attentive person who immediately struck me with his professionalism and availability.
After years and various experiences in other important hotels, Simone Giorgi returned to the Park Hyatt in Milan a few years ago as general director, hotel manager.
The hotel has 106 rooms and 25 suites of different sizes.
In the presence of covid the hotel was completely renovated.
We now come to talk about Chef Guido Peternollo, born in 1991, an engineering graduate who decides to dedicate himself to his true passion: cooking. In 2015 he worked with the multi-starred Enrico Bartolini, in 2017 he worked alongside Alain Ducasse and Yannick Alleno but dreamed of returning to Italy, to his Milan.
Hence the meeting with Simone Giorgi and the creation of the “Pellico 3 Milano” restaurant.
I went to this splendid restaurant and chose the dish: bay leaves, eel and caviar risotto which I paired with Encry Rosè Grand Cru champagne, non-vintage from the Maison Vue Blanche Estelle of Le Mesnil Sur Oger
The recipe for the dish follows:
Number of servings: 2
Step 1: Laurel butter
Ingredients:
– 80g Laurel
– 1kg Butter
Procedure:
Melt the butter and infuse the bay leaf for at least two hours.
Step 2: Teryiaki Sauce
Ingredients:
– 150g Sake
– 200g Mirin
– 150g Soy sauce
– 30g Sugar
Procedure:
Flambé the sake to release the alcohol, add the other ingredients and reduce.
Step 3: Cooking Eel
Ingredients:
– Smoked eel
Procedure:
Sear the eel in a pan and finish cooking in the teryiaki sauce.
Plating:
Toast the rice in a fat-free casserole, deglaze with white wine and continue cooking with vegetable broth.
Stir the rice with sour butter, bay leaf butter and parmesan.
Complete the dish with three pieces of eel, the lemon peel cut into “nails” and the caviar.
This champagne is produced by two Italians, Nadia Nicoli and Enrico Baldin, who have managed to acquire vineyards and have been producing excellent champagnes for several years.
I know the champagnes of this Maison having had the privilege of doing both the first and last vertical (i.e. different vintages of the same champagne). The verticals also included champagnes produced by the old producer. The olfactory and gustatory difference between the old property and the new one is notable.
We have gone from scents of mountain and stable herbs to more mineral and fruity scents.
The work of Nadia and Enrico was important both in the vineyard and in the cellar, without mentioning their important work on image, labels, capsules and packaging, of the highest taste.
The champagne I chose is made up of 83% Chardonnay and 17% Pinot Noir. The harvest is 2017 with 46% reserve wines. The dosage is 7/8gl. The second fermentation is 2/2018 and the maturation is for 36 months on the yeasts. Alcohol is 12.75%. The total acidity is 3.80 g/l. Sulfur dioxide is 50 mg/l, the pH is 3.10 and the malolactic fermentation was partial. The 2017 vintage was complicated. The month of August was hot and humid and created some problems for the Pinots. The selection of grapes during the harvest was very important, fortunately the Chardonnays on the contrary proved to be strong and powerful, compensating for the slight deficiencies of the Pinot.
The grapes come from Ambronnay, Bouzy and Verzenay for Pinot Noir and for Chardonnay from Avize, Oger and Le Mesnil sur oger.
Let’s now move on to describing champagne
MAISON VUE BLANCHE ESTELLE ENCRY GRAND ROSÈ GRAND CRU
It shines salmon pink and has quite fine and numerous bubbles.
The aroma emerges energetically and intensely on the nose, of flint followed by iodine which reminds me of the water that wets freshly opened oysters, the sweetness of the outside of the sugared almond, macerated raspberry, hints of cotton candy, white pepper , vegetable leather (it is the processed leather that tends towards the sweetness of leather), light chinotto, ending with whispers of amaretto.
On the palate the bubbles are fine and caressing.
Flavors of tart strawberry and pink grapefruit. The body is medium delicate.
The minerality is rich, accompanied by copious freshness with acidic tones that completely overwhelm the alcoholic mass. The wine is balanced and has a long but not very long persistence with a bitter, raspberry and pink grapefruit finish. (91/100)
I found that this champagne completely married the dish, the sweetness of the eel dampened a bit by the flavor of pink grapefruit. The flavors of the dish blended perfectly with the flavors of the champagne like a puzzle.
Try it to believe it!
