What is your impression of an eight course degustation. Is it the idea of luxury, the endless number of rich courses? The feeling of fullness or being completely stuffed like a turkey at the end? For the three Michelin star chef Heinz Beck, the idea behind the eight courses is not only taste but healthiness.
Healthiness? Michelin? Degustations? As strange as it sounds, it’s all possible. I’m up early to meet with German born chef Heinz Beck who has two restaurants in Rome and one in London and is the proud possessor of three Michelin stars. Travel has made him a little weary so he is quiet but amiable but don’t ask him about why a German chef loves cooking Italian cuisine. “I’m European” he says emphatically.
Part of his influence is from his Sicilian wife and mother in law. The waiting list is 2.5 months at La Pergola, his lushly decorated restaurant in Rome. One wall is covered with a 18th century Aubusson tapestry-the others in the collection rest in The Louvre and in a private collection. And once he changes into his chef’s whites, he becomes quite playful and excited showing us exactly how to make his signature fagotelli carbonara, the dish he is famous for and Michelle Obama so enamoured with.
It’s an intriguing dish, nothing like spaghetti carbonara. In it, fagotelli which are little square parcels, are filled with a mousseline of cheese. The pasta itself is rolled so thin that you can read through it and it is made from De Cecco semola flour, the only one that he will use that is slow to release carbohydrates and is better for you. The pasta is served as five pieces with a little of the sauce and you spoon onto into your mouth and let the paper thin membrane of the pasta burst with the creamy cheese filling all over your tongue. Watching others eat it, you know their smile appears when the liquid has been released and then a spoon goes quickly back for another spin.
I am lucky enough to get a lesson on how to make these little parcels from Heinz himself. He is encouraging and helpful, his enthusiasm winning. He was in Sydney to cook three dinners at Caffe Sicilia. It’s not something that he does often, he says that he doesn’t like the idea of the chefs that appear on gourmet congresses where they demonstrate their ideas to others and in turn, their ideas are replicated all over the world. It was his long time friendship with Caffe Sicilia owner Philip Visalli that convinced him. But in case it sounds like it was a whim, the $350 a person 8 course meal requires a mammoth amount of organisation including the following including $14,000 spent on just crockery:
- Fly pasta from Italy – special De Cecco brand – 70kg per day being air freighted – only made for Heinz Beck
- 2kg daily of Valrhona Jivara chocolate @ $180/kg
- Peter Gilmore’s flower grower – growing five different types of bespoke edible flowers especially for the event
- Mulloway from Palmers Island (New Zealand) being flown in daily
- Air freighted pecorino from Rome – from his own producers – 6kg every day
- 12 hours of labour for 2 people to make one dish for 100 people – fagotelli
- Imported 3kg every day of Italian butter from Rome – producer in Rome that makes butter only for Heinz
- 10 chefs, 10 hours of prep for mise en place every day
- 5 chefs work 12 hours per day prior to event
- 35 litres of liquid nitrogen just for the dessert
- Special moulds made for the bread
- 900 plates, 1000 wine glasses for 8 courses costing a total of $14,000
Along with this, he has brought four staff members from his international team comprising three chefs and one front of house person.
He also plays with liquid nitrogen for dessert and the iced sphere is a balloon filled with liquid raspberries frozen to become a thin shell by rapid spinning in liquid nitrogen. It’s served on tea flavoured chocolate cream.
Four of the eight dishes that have appeared on the degustation dinner are available throughout the month of December as “legacy dishes” at Caffe Sicilia as Heinz has trained the chefs on how to create them.
One of the legacy dishes that will appear at Caffe Sicilia: Crispy bread cannolo with palmers island Mulloway and a brunoise of melon and celery
The one dish that doesn’t appear however is the Fagotelli Carbonara. Here is the recipe, adapted slightly for those of us that do not possess Michelin level skills. I found its degree of difficulty moderate and I have pasta a few times before but never quite this delicate. I also think that now that I’ve done it at home once, it will be much easier to do it again and the dish is such a sublime exercise in textures that I think dinner guests will love its simplicity and flavour. There’s no palate cloying heaviness with this carbonara, just the gentlest pop of the liquid inside the pasta.
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever tried replicating a Michelin starred chef’s recipes? And when you travel, do you tend to stick to casual places, high end or do you prefer a mix?
Fagotelli Carbonara
Adapted from Heinz Beck
For the pasta:
- 160 gr flour
- 80 gr Semola flour (De Cecco)
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 Egg
- Salt
For the filling:
- 5 egg yolks
- 60 gr Pecorino cheese, finely grated
- 80 ml Whipped cream
- Salt
- White pepper
For the sauce:
- 2 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil
- 35 gr Guanciale, I used prosciutto, chopped finely
- 100 gr Zucchini, diced finely
- 25 ml White wine
- 50 ml Veal stock (you can also use beef or chicken stock but not fish)
- 40 gr Pecorino cheese
Method
1. Make the filling: Beat the yolks in a double boiler and add little by little the grated Pecorino cheese to eggs. Add the white pepper, the salt, let cool and then using a whisk, incorporate the whipped cream. It will come together eventually. Put the mixture into a sac-a-poche (pastry bag) and keep cool in a refrigerator for 1 hour.
2. Make pasta by kneading all ingredients together for 3-4 minutes adding as much water as need to make a stiff dough. Allow to rest (Heinz vacuum seals his) and then run through pasta machine. See detailed instructions on this post from yesterday).
3. Make the fagotelli. Have a tray of flour or fine semolina ready to place the delicate fagotelli once made. Roll out the pasta until thin enough to read through. Very lightly dust the surface and lay a length flat. Brush very lightly with extra water or an egg yolk. Place small dollops of the filling mixture an inch and a half apart on the pasta. Fold the pasta over and cut the edges.
Brushing the pasta with egg yolk
Piping the mousseline
Squeezing and shaping
Cutting into individual pieces
4. Then press gently to seal the filling in on all sides. Using a pasta cutter or small knife, cut the pasta slightly angled as shown and bring together the sides to make a pocket. These are now ready for cooking and take less than a minute to cook. Place in the fridge until needed.
5. Have a large pot of salted water to on to boil. Heat a frypan on medium to high heat and add olive oil and then add the guanciale or prosciutto and zucchini and cook for a minute or two. Add the white wine and veal stock and cook and then turn down the heat. Meanwhile, cook the fagotelli in a few batches and add to the sauce prepared and gently spoon the sauce over them. Ladle gently into a serving plate-Heinz serves these five to a serve. Serve straight away as the filling with be a lovely liquid pop in your mouth through a thin pasta membrane.
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43 Comments | Add your own
Incredible experience, Lorraine, and what a fantastic lesson in pasta making. I love the sound of these little pillows exploding in your mouth and I can just imagine how wonderful that tastes. I really want to try making this!
I have always shied away from these multi coarse meals for fear of eating too much, but Chef’s degustation sounds quite manageable.
Oh that delicious ‘pop’ would be fantastic indeed! I love how beautifully fine and thin that pasta is too.
Degustations are lots of fun, I find it a really good way to get a feel for the chef and kitchen by trying out a range of dishes and styles rather than sticking to just a couple of courses.
I like to eat the type of food the locals eat when travelling. It shows a true representation of the region without trying to dumb it down for us tourists. Saying that though, a good 5 star meal would not be turned down if offered, thankyou!
That looks very wonderful! I love the attention to detail and elegant this dish is.
Love the raspberry balloon dessert. LOL at the very German name behind this very Italian dish – good on him.
I loved this post, Lorraine. My little sous chef is looking over my shoulder and says it looks “super yum!” We’ll definitely try this one next time he’s in an Italian frame of mind. x
I can’t believe the pasta is that thin! And to learn how to make it, how lucky!
It is so wonderful to see such an awesome demonstration
I love the delicious end result!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Wow, I have to say degustation tend to leave me stuffed – not many are done well. That pasta dish itself would be filling for me, but them again we are not big dinner eaters.
When we travel we always pick one or two top places to go to, but also love finding smaller eateries nd go back a few times, becoming regulars. It’s the nicest.
Very original, never seen them before. Good step by step photos!
Ciao
Alessandra
Spaghetti carbonara was the last meal I ate before I gave birth to my son almost 40 years ago. The terror that followed put me off eating the dish for about 20 years. I would love to try this delicious version.
I like to mix it up with the cheap and expensive.
what i would like to do and what i can afford to do while travelling are two different things! i’d love to try up-scale eateries but casual is the way i roll. hopefully i’ll get to taste more high-end dining in the future, though!
Pasta making sure is an art, but the end result is amazing – the feeling of achieving the fact that you made your own pasta, and the taste is beyond any pasta that is store bought! I love Italians and how simple their dishes are. So simple but yet deliver on all the right flavours.
These look absolutely fabulous – luscious. Mmmm. GG
Wow, so much effort and expense. Pasta was flown from Italy and not made on premises?
I suppose eating slowly means we eat less – so its healthy?
The way you described that cheese pasta? Off the chain. It’s 8:30am, I just ate some Just Right, and I want that right now.
What a wonderful experience, Lorraine! I like this fagotelli much better than traditional carbonara!
Any dego that uses 2 kgms of Valrhona chocolate is my kind of meal!!
That sounds absolutely divine! Unfortunately I don’t posses any pasta machines let alone pasta making skills! Kudos to you for being able to do so
Meanwhile, it looks like I ought to go to Cafe Sicilia for his legacy dishes
What a treat to learn from such a pro. I don’t think I’d be brave enough to attempt this at home. I can see a lot of ripped sheets of pasta!
“I’m European”. Love it!
A wonderful experience. I am in awe of his talent and ability but i think his experience could be better put to the test if he sourced ingredients from our country. This is the ultimate in excess in a day where local and regional is prized. Can he not cook if he doesn’t have all of his “usual” ingredients.
What is wrong with using our gorgeous artisan produce or even artisan produce that has already been imported by some one ( like http://www.lario.com.au). I cant image $350.00 a head would even cover the freight costs of this meal.
I certainly do not want to hijack your incredible experience Lorraine because I would love to have a pasta lesson from Heinz, but this excess made me angry
I love a mix! Have never tried to replicate a gorgeous recipe from a fancy restaurant, though. This looks like heaven to me – perfection!
Heidi xo
What a treat! I think I would be too intimidated to try, but he seemed to be very encouraging and kind. And as for the food … yum! I’d love to try the lot.
What a fascinating journey of teaching! On the one hand it shows why the dishes in top end restaurants may have such horrendous pricetags. On the other hand, being an avowed greenie, I wonder whether substitute ingredients, carefully chosen locally, would not be just as good! I have had many degustation meals in my lifetime and never, ever felt ‘stuffed’ – often the other way around! I absolutely adore them, given a worthy chef
! And when I was a young world traveller in my early 20s, my husband and I oft made the mistake of going ‘top end’ regularly: you can’t – your palate gets ‘bored’: so a mix 
!
When I travel I love to eat in places that are full of locals, as part of the travel experience is meeting the locals, and talking over food makes it just that much better. I rarely make it to high end on o/s trips, as I’m generally on a tight budget, but have found some real gems in the villages.I’m definitely trying this pasta on my next days off after christmas – today is my last day of leave so no time now. Love your descriptions of flavours and textures.
I’ve been craving lasagna lately…this isn’t helping!
Oh wow! How incredible. This guy sounds right up my alley- fine dining and health!
We’re not so lucky here in KL, we very rarely get Michelin-star chefs come to cook here. Maybe only 5 a year!
These look amazing.I just may have to try to make them. I love multi courses, but eight might just be over the top for me! But then, maybe not.
I just may have to make these–they look amazing. I love multi courses, but eight might be over the top even for me! But then, maybe not
My goodness! This has got to be the prettiest plate of carbonara pasta I’ve ever seen!
Me, I like anything – high end, casual, in between, whatever!
You just got me very excited about the fresh and stuffed pasta course I am going to tomorrow. My first cooking lesson ever, by the way!
What a wonderful experience for you Lorraine! Not too many people can say that they’ve had a cooking lesson from a 3 Michelin chef. Great menu,would have loved to try his degustation but $350 per head!!! Hubby and I have eaten at Caffe Sicilia many times, the food and service are excellent.
I’m happy to say that when I make my pasta it’s as thin as Heinz’ and it literally melts in your mouth. Tomorrow I’ll be elbow-deep in flour and eggs , oh Joy!!
What a stunning dish and lucky you that you got to learn how to make it from the man himself.
Thank you for sharing the recipe with us. I never attempted recreating a Michelin starred dish at my own kitchen. Would love to though…
And when I travel, I like to mix it up. I like eating where the locals eat.
WOW you met Heinz
I have never tried remaking anything from a Michelin Star chef because I know I wouldn’t be able to make it hehe ~
It’s amazing I always knew good produce was expensive but wow $180 a KG of chocolate
I’m never gonna complain about going out and places are expensive hehe
When I travel I like to do a mix, both SUPER casual and then throw in a few fine dining hehe
That looks like heaven on a plate. I think I could eat at least two orders of that re-invented carbonara. But I guess that would defeat the purpose of it being more healthful, huh?
Ok, I’m officially starving! This looks absolutely delicious.
i wouldn’t even begin to attempt fancy dishes like that! cool pasta shape, though.
What a brilliant experience! Breaking down this pasta dish is wonderful for Heinz and yourself to share. Sounds delicious, the cream must help create the lightness of the carbonara filling. When travelling, we mix up elite dining with wholesome food, it is the varied exposure that matters. Some of the best memories come from exceptional dining experiences.
Fancy…I’m pinning this to try out one day because it sounds so good.
Wow… I am truly speechless. But I so want to try making this although my few attempts at making ravioli were not really successful. The filling sounds fabulous. What an experience. When we travel we like to mix it up and go everything from casual to starred.
These sound heavenly. I wish someone would replicate the meal here. xoxo Mum
the iced sphere & pasta looks amazing!! <3
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