Simple fare from the Dolomites this, bread balls to go into a clear soup. And surprisingly good too. Speck is a similar to prosciutto but smoked. If you cannot find it a mildly sugared Virginia cured ham might work well as a substitute. This recipe is drawn from Anneliese Kompatscher's La Cucina nelle Dolomiti and will serve 4:

• 3/4 pound (300 g) day-old white bread, finely diced
• 1/4 pound (100 g) speck, finely diced
• 1/2 a medium onion, minced
• 2 glasses milk (about 1 1/2 cups, 375 ml, I'd say)
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons parsley, minced
• Onion grass, chopped
• Salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 5 cups (1250 ml) broth

Combine the diced bread and speck in a bowl. Sauté the onion in the butter until it is translucent. Whisk the eggs with some of the milk, stir in the parsley, and combine the mixture with the bread. Let rest a half hour.

Set a pot of lightly salted water to boil.

In the mean time, mix the flour, onion, salt to taste, and -- if need be -- a little more milk into the bread mixture. Wet your hands and shape the mixture into 8 balls roughly the size of golf balls. Simmer the canederli in the water for about 15 minutes, and in the meantime heat your broth. Transfer the cooked canederli to the broth with a slotted spoon, garnish with onion grass, and serve.

The wine? I'd go with a white here, perhaps Lageder's Sauvignon Blanc.

Note: If you are not sure you have enough flour in the mixture begin by cooking one canederlo. If it holds, fine. If it dissolves, remake the canederli, adding more flour to the bread mixture.

A printer-friendly version of this recipe.
Thoughts on the Dolomites

Subscribe to the Newsletter
Name	Email