FATTORIA DEL COLLE RESTAURANT
It is a “wine” restaurant because it overlooks the vineyards, bases its menu on tradition and the great wines by Donatella Cinelli Colombini and it has two AIS Sommeliers
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Today and tomorrow, I will present to you the protagonists and the new recipes of the Fattoria del Colle Restaurant in Trequanda, in the most intact and panoramic Tuscan countryside. The restaurant is actually made up of two restaurants: the recently restored barn as a hall for banquets, conferences and parties, and the gourmet restaurant, which has existed since 1998. The latter is inside the hamlet where the farmers used to live and where today there are rooms and apartments for tourists. The restaurant is housed in the old ox stables and pigsty, although now, with the floral decorations on the walls and refined furnishings, it seems difficult to believe.
In summer, the internal rooms extend outwards into the terrace and romantic grove illuminated with small suspended light bulbs as in ancient peasant feasts. The grove and terrace above the cellar are in great demand for weddings and allow each couple to create a very personalized wedding party unlike any other. Every detail is thought out with care, even the lighting of the grove is designed by Philip Robinson – the English set designer of famous films such as “Four weddings and a funeral”.
In the menu of the Fattoria del Colle Restaurant we find the same mix of tradition, accuracy and creativity.
THE FATTORIA DEL COLLE CHEF DORIANA MARCHI
Vinsanto-del-Chianti-and-Zuppa-inglese-blancmange-Fattoria-del-Colle-Restaurant
The kitchen is led by Chef Doriana Marchi, from Arezzo where she was born and raised but descended from a family from Sinalunga. After the hotel school she became a sommelier in 2013 and regularly attends the Arezzo AIS delegation led by Massimo Rossi. In her professional past are the first ONAF course on cheeses, and the activity at Villa Petrischio together with the starred chef Valter Passeri.
Her passion for Tuscan wild herbs prompted Donatella Cinelli Colombini to create a vegetable garden next to the restaurant. The essences grow in wine tonneaux that have finished their work in the cellar and have a “second life” thanks to the botanist Caterina Cardia who sowed the ancient Tuscan herbarium in them.
From the local tradition here are two recipes that you can also create at home if you really can’t come and taste at the Fattoria del Colle where they are perhaps tastier.
FREE-RANGE CHICKEN SALAD WITH TUSCAN SPONTANEOUS HERBS
It is a very easy recipe that allows you to create a unique and tasty dish based on meat and vegetables, perfect for a light lunch or dinner.
The basic rule is to start with cold chicken. Whether it’s a roast chicken, boiled, or grilled breast, the important thing is to cook it well in advance so that the meat is compact and tasty when creating the salad. Use chicken thighs : zero waste and much tastier meat.
Prepare the mayonnaise yourself with wild celery and spontaneous Tuscan herbs.
Make a parmesan basket- wafer to serve the salad in. Of course, field salads, even spicy ones, are fundamental.
The wine to be paired is a white Tuscan IGT “Sanchimento” produced in the traditional and “orange” way with the Traminer grapes from Fattoria del Colle.
ZUPPA INGLESE – BLANCMANGE
It is not a revisited dessert but the classic Tuscan Zuppa Inglese that has its historical roots up to 1200 and that the peasants served during the threshing of wheat a century ago. It contains alkermes, a liqueur that has its best expression at the Santa Maria Novella Pharmacy in Florence.
For the base you simply need eggs, flour, lemon zest and vanilla.
The custard is steamed and the dark chocolate melted in bain-marie. For the syrup you have to dissolve the sugar in the water and add the alkermes when it is lukewarm.
The dessert is composed in layers, alternating cream with sponge cake soaked in syrup and alkermes. It is generally decorated with chocolate flakes.
Accompany this exquisite peasant dessert with the Passito di Traminer from Fattoria del Colle or the more traditional Vin Santo del Chianti aged in small kegs in the farm attic.