2354. SPECKKNODEL (BACON DUMPLINGS with WHITE CABBAGE)

serves four


500 grams floury potatoes, peeled
150 grams flour
1 small egg
salt
200 grams bacon
2 eggs
200 grams crème fraîche
2 tablespoons corn starch
nutmeg

For the cabbage salad:
1 large white cabbage
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
200 grams lean bacon, cut in tiny cubes
100 ml white wine or apple cider vinegar

For the dumplings, cook the potatoes (without peeling or cutting them) until tender. Peel and mash with a fork or potato ricer (don't be tempted to use an electric whisk, or you'll end up with a glue-like mass that is impossible to work). When the potatoes have cooled down just enough to be able to handle them with your bare hands, add the egg and flour, season with salt and knead into a smooth dough.

Divide the mixture into 12 equal portions, flatten them in your hands and put a ball of bacon bits in the middle. Roll the dumplings with floury hands, making sure that the bacon is well enveloped and the dough closes tightly around them. Sit the dumplings in a greased, oven-proof dish and bake in the oven for ca. 25 minutes at 200 C.

Whisk the eggs, crème fraîche and corn starch together, season with salt and nutmeg and pour over the dumplings. Continue to cook until the egg mixture has set.

While the dumplings are baking, cut the cabbage into thin strips (no more than 5 mm) and cook in salted water with the caraway seeds until tender. Drain and return to the pot. Cut the bacon into 1 cm dice and fry in a shallow pan until nicely brown. When the bacon bits are done, add them and the fat they released to the cabbage. Return the pan to the stove and add the vinegar, heat it up and add to the cabbage. Mix through and keep warm until serving.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Johanna Wagner, thepassionatecook, London, UK, August 22, 2004

2233. WILD BOAR RAGOUT with BACON DUMPLINGS

serves four


Wild Boar Ragout:
600 grams wild boar leg
250 grams onions
200 ml red wine
150 ml sunflower oil
50 ml hazelnut oil
10 grams juniper berries
20 grams sugar
5 grams cardamom whole
10 grams cinnamon sticks
150 grams frozen cranberries
15 grams fresh thyme
100 grams rose hip jam
salt, to taste

Bacon Dumplings:
200 grams bacon
300 grams flour (hruba mouka)
200 ml milk
250 grams white bread
100 grams onions
30 grams chopped parsley
30 grams butter
salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste

Wild Boar Ragout: Clean the meat and cut in cubes. Heat the casserole and add sunflower oil and hazelnut oil. Sauté the meat until it becomes very brown, then take out. Add sliced onions and all the spices, and sauté until golden. Deglaze the pan with red wine and water. Add the meat back and cook until soft. When ragout is ready, add frozen cranberries and rose hip jam.

Bacon Dumplings: Slice the white bread in small cubes and let dry over night. Slice bacon and onions in small cubes and sauté in same pan. Combine the bread with egg yolk, warm milk, flour, onions with bacon and chopped parsley. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. After all this, slowly mix a whipped egg white inside the mixture.

Brush a cake form with butter or lay out with baking paper, and place the mixture inside and bake at 140°C for 20 minutes. When slightly cooled, slice and serve with the ragout.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Chef Marek Fichtner, Le Grill at Kempinski Hybernská, Prague