Serves 4
Ingredients
3 spiky Sardinian artichokes
360g Scotch Angus beef fillet
16g bottarga (air-dried roe mullet eggs)
12g dill
1 lemon juice
4 stripes of Carasau bread (flat crispy bread from Sardinia)
5g caper berries
8gsea salt
8g black pepper
Maldon sea salt flakes
Lemon dressing
10ml lemon juice
10ml extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
Jerusalem artichokes sauce
200g Jerusalem artichokes
½ l milk
3anchovies fillets (25g each)
15ml extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
Method
Mix lemon juice and EVOO. The juice will stop the artichokes from discolouring.
To make the sauce, peal the Jerusalem artichokes and cut into big cubes. Pour the cold milk into a pan and cook the artichokes until soft for approximately 30 minutes. Drain the artichokes and blend in a blender together with the anchovies, 1 tablespoon of milk and EVOO until the texture is creamy. Place aside to cool down.
In the meantime, clean the beef fillet and remove any nerves and fat. Chop the meat finely and chill in the fridge. Remove the hard leaves and fuzzy centre from the spiky artichokes. Pour the lemon juice over the artichokes, place inside a vacuum pack and cook for approximately 3 minutes in a boiling water. Remove from the pan; cool the artichokes down and chop finely. Toast the carasau bread in the pre-heated oven to 170˚C for 1 minute.
Season the beef with salt, pepper and EVOO. Plate the beef; add artichokes on top, lemon dressing and drizzle of EVOO. Garnish with dill and Jerusalem artichoke sauce on the side. Finish with capers berries, shaved bottarga and pinch of Maldon sea salt flakes.
True to the Italian tradition, Antonio Favuzzi (known as ‘Lello’) learnt to cook in his parents’ kitchen from an early age. Preparing and creating food for the whole family was an important part of everyday life for Favuzzi, who would regularly help his grandmother make fresh, home-made bread, focaccia, pasta, and more.
Favuzzi was born in Sassari, Sardinia on 25th September 1981 and grew up there with his Sicilian mother and Puglian father. He first realised he wanted to be a chef when a catering college approached his school looking for recruits and he signed up, after which he worked for two seasons at the five-star hotel, Cervo in Sardinia. Favuzzi’s next position was at La Gritta restaurant in Palau, Italy, following which he and a small team of fellow chefs and friends launched Santini restaurant in Milan.
His London journey began in 2003 when he began working as Sous Chef at restauranteur Alan Yau’s Anda in Marylebone. Following this he worked at Franco’s on Jermyn Street, which won rave reviews. Favuzzi then moved to The Wolseley before joining the team as Sous Chef at former Corbin & King restaurant, St Alban. In 2008, he opened L’Anima.
L’Anima means ‘soul’ in Italian, and the food that Favuzzi and his team produce is created with this passion in mind. The high-end menu is reflective of Moorish cuisine, with a focus on Southern, authentic dishes such as Sardinian Fregola and Seafood Malloreddus – his parents’ Sicilian and Puglian roots a notable influence in his cooking
Translated as ‘soul’ in Italian, award-winning L’Anima is true to its name, specialising in authentic, honest Italian cuisine made with all the passion of chefs with Italian cooking in their blood. Bordering the City and Shoreditch, L’Anima was designed by famed architect Claudio Silvestrin. The open and inviting space boasts clean-cut, modern furnishings – a design that reflects the understated sophistication and quality of our seasonally-changing menu. Their Southern-influenced cuisine reinterprets dishes from Sardinia, Puglia and Sicily. Meanwhile, their award-winning wines champion environmentally friendly producers from the less well-known regions of Calabria, Lombardy and Emilia Romagna.