Lasagna Umbria-style
Italian chef Lorenzo Polegri re-creates his seven-course James Beard dinner in Dallas
Not everyone gets to cook at the James Beard House in New York as Italian chef Lorenzo Polegri did on Saturday, January 26. He made a multicourse meal featuring six appetizers and five additional courses that began with chestnut-raisin crostini, lingered with lasagna and duck ragout, and finished with hazelnut biscotti.
Polegri, who lives in Orvieto, Italy, will make the same dinner in Dallas, on February 2, at My Private Chef, a catering and meal-preparation business in Deep Ellum owned by Holly Muller. The menu includes red cabbage soup; lamb shoulder roulade stuffed with prunes; and a "Monte Bianco" of candied chestnuts, meringue, mascarpone and cream mousse. Each course will be paired with Umbrian wines.
Polegri is in the United States as part of a tour and comes to Dallas via Chow & Ciao, an Italian travel company owned and operated by former Dallas attorney Kaylee Higginbotham. Chow & Ciao guests stay at a villa and travel each day to different parts of Tuscany and Umbria.
Excursions include visiting wineries and learning cooking skills from Italian chefs, and that's how Higginbotham and Polegri met. Muller is an Italo-phile as well; she spent some time at a culinary immersion school in Tuscany.
The dinner was originally scheduled as a single event at 8:30 pm, but that seating sold out. Demand was high enough that a second seating was added at 5:30 pm. Tickets are $125 per person and include an autographed copy of Polegri's newly released cookbook, The Etruscan Chef. For reservations, email kaylee@chowandciao.com or call 469-441-9394.