The Lardo Project

Finally, I got around to try myself on creating my very own Lardo.
As the original Margaliza is not an easy thing to get your hands on I talked to my preferred butcher and got a nice slab of bacon off of a "Schwäbisch-Hällisches Landschwein" - a wonderful German breed of pork, indeed!

Check out this web site for details: http://www.besh.de/menue_produkte/schweinegga.html

So, I took it home and based on some web research I created my very own spicing based on the list below and gave it one last good rub.

• sea salt
• pepper
• rosemary
• sage
• bay leaf
• juniper
• nutmeg
• allspice (pimento)
• cinnamon

Now, packed away in a cool place this project is resting and maturing until mid-January to hopefully become my very first home made Lardo. I will keep you updated.

And, before someone asks: If this is a success I will consider getting that marble pot - but for this first tryal I refused to get the budget for that.

Pumpkin Casserole

1 medium Hokaido Pumpkin
200g Feta Cheese
250g Mushrooms
Salt, Pepper, Herbes de Provence
250ml (1 Cup) fresh Milk

• Slice and sauté the mushrooms i a hot pan. (Tip: make sure to have enough heat to get rid of the moisture and do *not* add all at once)
• Pre-heat your oven to 160°C (320°F).
• Remove the seeds from the pumpkin and cut it into 3-5mm thin slices.
• Prepare the casserole dish by applying some olive oil then stack the ingredients:
  start with pumpkin, then add mushrooms, pumpkin, feta and finish with pumpkin
  Apply salt, pepper and herbs to the pumpkin and mushroom layers.
• Pour the milk and put the dish into the oven until the pumpkin has soaked up the milkd and gets a little golden crust (~30 minutes).

Enjoy it as a side- or main dish

Raspmary Ice Cream (Raspberry and Rosemary)

750 g Raspberries
3 tsp Chopped Rosemary
150g Powder Sugar
3 egg yolks
1/2 Lemon's Juice
400 ml Fresh Cream

In the mixer, stir the egg yolks and sugar to create creamy base.
In the meantime pass the raspberries through a sieve in order to remove the seeds then add to the base.

Stir in the remaining ingredients and place all into a 1/2 liter ice cream maker do the cooling (will take up to 30min).

Sorry, no photos available yet - the desert vultures were too fast ...


Kudos to the best ice cream place ever, which inspired me to create this recipe:
Gelateria di Piazza - San Gimignano

Specknüdel = Speck Pastalings

300g (Süd)Tiroler Speck
1 Onion
fresh Parsley

400g fresh pasta dough

Finely chop the onion and sauté in some butter. Chop the speck and parsley and mix with the onions.

Split the pasta dough and the speck-mix into 12 equal pieces. Take a piece of dough and use your hands to form something like a bowl-like shape. Place the speck-mix in it and close it to form a ball-like dumpling. The dough should be as evenly distributed as possible. the dough is sticky enough not to require any glueing eggs or anything.

Place the pastalings in a steamer (I use the bamboo steamer from the asian food store) and steam for about 15min

Serve with field salat with a balsamico dressing that may be on the sweet side

Baum5 Wholegrain Bread

1 cup rye

2 cups wheat

1/2 cube yeast (20g)

3 Tables spoons olive oil

1-2 Tables spoons Salt

1-2 Tables spoons caraway seeds

1 pinch ground cilantro seeds

Grind the grains into a bowl to create some fresh and warm whole flour and create a "crater" in the middle

Dissolve the yeast in 1 cup warm water (not hot! - that would kill the yeast bacteria).

Pour the yeast-water into the crater and mix with some of the flour to create a viscid starter dough. sprinkle some of the remaining flower over it, cover and let it rest in a quiet war place for about 15min.

Add the salt, caraways, olive oil and about 1-1.5 cups of warm water. mix well and then let the kitchen machinery knead it for 10-15 min

Cover it up again and let it rest and rise for one hour (again in a quiet, warm place)

Heat the fan oven to 200°C (= 400°F).

Mix down the dough to get rid of enclosed air, form a loaf and create a smooth surface with your wet hands

Bake for 45 minutes

Pasta with Baby Tomatoes and Ginger

Let me start this post with a shout out to a place named "Gast" here in Munich: Thanks for coming up with this meal and for applying the live cooking concept!
Some weeks ago I enjoyed the following pasta dish at Gast. The recipe of this I have created as an interpretation of what I have been "shown" by the chef that day. Here it is:

250g baby tomatoes
1 table spoon ground ginger
1/3 cup fresh cream
1 table spoon chopped mint leaves
500g spaghetti, tagliatelle or similar pasta

Chop the baby tomatoes (save any juices) and stir fry them in some melted butter (no, do not substitute it with evil margarine or olive oil or whatever!). When they're hot add the freshly ground ginger. If the tomato chopping has produced juices, add them now.

Gast doesn't do that, but it has proven to be good: Add about 1/3 cup of fresh cream.
Finally, add the mint leaves and some salt and pepper according to your taste

Serve on some fresh pasta with Parmesan if you like

Here's a tip for grinding the ginger: Go to Muji's or any other well equipped kitchen supplier and spend five bucks on a ginger grinder - it produces a wonderfully creamy paste when grinding the ginger that no western cool will come up with!