Scarpinocc Service
Pâté service meets pasta at Pittsburgh’s Fish nor Fowl.
Photo: Alexander Zeren
What do duck liver mousse, mascarpone, cream, chestnuts, hazelnuts, pan frito, XO sauce, and pine cone syrup have in common? To Chef Drew Robinson, the answer is pasta. “I like to take familiar dishes or elements and give them a twist. This dish is a riff on a pâté service,” he says of his duck liver scarpinocc at Fish nor Fowl in Pittsburgh.
Robinson starts by searing cubes of foie gras and sweating down shallots before deglazing the pan with brandy. He infuses the liquor with a small sachet of thyme and rosemary, then reduces it before puréeing it with heavy cream and cream cheese. Once the mixture is cooled, he adds whole eggs and transfers the mousse to piping bags.
Robinson chose scarpinocc as the vessel for his duck liver mousse. The unusual stuffed pasta from Lombardy, which takes its name and shape from the Italian word for "shoe," gave Robinson an opportunity to experiment with something unfamiliar. “I'm always trying to find new pasta shapes that aren't commonly seen in the city. This shape really interested me,” he says. “I believe in constantly challenging myself so that my team feels challenged as well.” Using a durum flour- and egg yolk-based dough, Robinson rolls his pasta into sheets and pipes in the foie mousse before cutting and shaping.
The medium that ties the pasta together is a tango of sauces: a simple roasted chestnut-hazelnut sauce and a sour cherry XO finishing sauce. For the first, Robinson poaches the nuts for about a half an hour to soften them before puréeing them with brandy, heavy cream, and nutmeg. The sour cherry XO, Robinson says, was inspired by “how mostarda is used to garnish a tartine.” After lightly frying shallots and garlic, he adds dry tart cherries, which darken and infuse the oil. Off the flame, he stirs in pickled mustard seeds, Calabrian chile paste, chile flakes, and chestnut wood-aged balsamic vinegar.
The scarpinocc is only about a five- to six-minute pickup during service. “It’s designed to be prep-heavy so that execution is as efficient as possible,” Robinson says. “The time really depends on whether the pasta was made that day or the day before.” When the pasta is cooked through, it’s pulled from the water and tossed in a pan with the chestnut-hazelnut sauce and a few knobs of butter. Once it’s shiny and emulsified, the scarpinocc is plated and garnished with the sour cherry XO, pan frito breadcrumbs made from house-made focaccia cubes and toasted rosemary, and a drizzle of mugolio, a syrup made from immature pine cones. The gestalt is a rich, decadent bite cut with just enough tart fruitiness to round it out. “I think the most rewarding aspect of this dish is that it presents something familiar in an unexpected way,” Robinson says. “I’m always looking to make opportunities for diners to step outside their comfort zones.”
