Mountain Recipe 2: Canederli

After a few months’ absence, I’m back to present this second Mountain recipe, called Canederli (accent on the first “e”: CanEderli). This is a much-beloved dish in the Northeast of Italy–from the Brenta valley to the Sudtirol, and it’s also much appreciated in Austria all the way East to Styria.

Like other dishes that I have presented, it is a representative of the “cucina povera” and uses as a main ingredient yesterday’s bread–which would be sacrilege to throw away.

Ingredients for four people:

~ 14 Oz soft bread (white is my favorite)
~ 7 Oz bacon or “Speck,” cut into small cubes
~ 2.5 Oz flour
~ 2 eggs
~ 1 midsize onion
~ Parsley
~ Milk, best if whole
~ Broth
~ Olive oil, salt, pepper

Soak the bread in lukewarm milk for about 3 hours. Then strain it thoroughly to obtain a firm, dough-like texture. Prepare a sautee by placing the onion, finely chopped, and the bacon in a casserole with oil over medium-low heat.

When the sautee is ready, discard the oil and add the contents to the bread. Mix together with the eggs, flour, salt and a pinch of parsley, making sure the whole is firm and homogenous.

Use your hands to form balls a bit smaller than a tennis ball, making sure they are nice and firm. Then, place them in a deep pot of boiling broth (I really like home-made chicken for this) and cook them until they float to the surface.

Enjoy them in a deep dish halfway filled with broth, to which you can add pepper and grated cheese. Some prefer to cover them with butter and sage instead.

This recepie is wonderful for this time of year, and it is particularly enjoyable after a day in the cold weather. A nice dry Northeastern or German white will go fantastically with it–as will of course a good, hearty table red.

Please let me know how this turns out.

Barbaresco

Butterscotch Pie

In addition to breads, we also made a butterscotch pie that tasted wonderful. While there was a slight structural problem the first day, we think some additional flour next time around should fix it. Also, we made a deep dish pie, and so used a double recipe, which contributed to the structural instability. This recipe came from the Gourmet magazine cookbook from a number of years ago.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
4 egg yolks
5 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cup warmed milk
2 tsp vanilla

Mix the butter and brown sugar in a bowl over a double boiler over low heat until well blended. Mix the flour, egg yolks and milk in a bowl, and add this slowly to the sugar mixture, stirring constantly. Let cook gently until thickened, as thick or slightly thicker than pudding. Pour into a crust that has been blind baked and cooled, and then chill until set. If desired, it can be topped with a meringue or whipped cream (we opted for the latter). This was also a big hit, despite not being entirely set.

Finnish Rye Bread

To contrast the potato bread, we decided to make a rye bread. We stumbled upon this recipe in a bread and soup book Chris picked up years ago, and with a few modifications (both intentional and accidental), we made a pleasant, somewhat dense but slightly moist rye. For a little flavor accent, we added some caraway as well.

Ingredients
2 cups of water
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp sugar
3 tsp salt
1 1/2 packages yeast
1/2 cup warm water
4 cups of rye flour
3-4 cups AP flour (as needed)
1 tbsp caraway

Heat the 2 cups of water, and pour into a bowl that has the butter, sugar and salt. Mix to dissolve. Warm the 1/2 cup of water, and dissolve the yeast in it. Mix these two liquids together, and add the rye flour and caraway. Mix, then add AP flour until a dough forms. Let it rise until doubled in size, and then knead and shape into loaves (I did two round loaves). Let rise again, and then place in preheated oven at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes. This was a big hit with my relatives, and we we definitely make it again.

French Bread

Second in my series of Thanksgiving recipes that I want to be able to locate in the future, a french bread recipe from a book Chris has by the Frugal Gourmet. This year, we added a ton of sage and other herbs, and used it for stuffing, after drying it out for a couple of days ahead of time, but it’s also a great bread for eating herbless, right out of the oven.

Ingredients
2 envelopes yeast (I used a little more-around 5 teaspoons)
2 1/2 cup water
2 lbs 3 oz AP flour
1 tsp salt mixed in 1 tsp water

Proof yeast in warm water, and then mix the liquid with about 4 cups of flour, and beat for about 10 minutes. Add the salted water, and as much of the remaining flour as needed, and knead for around 5 minutes. Let it rise in a warm location until doubled, 1-1.5 hours. Punch down and knead again, and then let rise again. Shape into loaves (I usually do 2, but 3-4 are recommended). Let the loaves rise. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place a pan on the bottom rack of the oven. Slash the loaves as desired before putting them in the oven, and put either 1 cup of water, or a good handful of ice into the tray on the bottom shelf before closing the door. Bake 25 minutes. The steam created should help produce a nice crispy crust on the bread.

Potato Bread

This year for Thanksgiving, Chris and I made several different kinds of bread. This recipe (from a bread book my mother has, Beard on Bread by James Beard) results in a nice, sweet and soft potato bread. I’ve never tried it as a roll, but I’d bet it would also be nice.

Ingredients
1 package active dry yeast
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk or leftover potato water
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/2 tbsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup mashed potatos
~6 cups AP flour

Proof yeast in warm water with the one tablespoon of sugar. While this is proofing, mix the warmed milk or potato water with the butter, salt and the rest of the sugar, and let the butter melt. Mix in the mashed potatoes and the yeasty water, and stir. Gradually add in the flour until a dough forms. Knead dough for around 10 minutes, then shape into a ball, and place into a greased bowl to rise in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, remove from fridge, and punch dough down. Let it rest for around 5 minutes, then give it a knead for a few minutes. Shape into two loaves, and let it double in size. It make take up to 4 hours, as it warm. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake loaves 40-45 minutes.

*Edit-This makes wonderful French Toast as well. I probably would say that it makes even better French Toast than challah, which is another favorite of mine.