A Ladin Sandwich with Spices and Tyrolean Prosciutto
I used to eat this sandwich whenever I arrived in Corvara, I went straight to the bakery to get some local flatbread and then to the butcher for prosciutto. Outside the shop, I prepared my sandwich, sat on a bench in the snow and enjoyed the start of my holiday.
Last week I read about this bread, the bread of my mountain village of choice. It is a flatbread made with rye flour mixed with coriander, fennel and aniseed. It's a speciality in the Ladinia region around the Sella mountains in the Italian Dolomite Alps. In Italian this area is called Val Badia and the Ladin name (which is an autonomous language) is Alta Badia.
There are two ways to prepare this bread, one is more flat, it becomes dry, hard and brittle after baking. It's very thin and you "shake" the dough to loosen it up which gives it its name, "Schuettelbrot" (shaken bread). This method was used to preserve the bread for the long and lonely time in the mountain huts where the supply of fresh bread and food was an unfrequent and laborious task. It keeps for months, the texture is hard but it retains its strong taste of spices.
The second one is thicker and this is the one I choose to make, at it's best when fresh and warm. Although it's not as light and fluffy as a flatbread made with wheat flour, it's denser and more complex in taste. Traditionally you eat this bread together with Tyrolean Prosciutto at Vesper time, in the afternoon or evening when you feel like a little snack. My mother sent me a nice piece of prosciutto from San Cassiano, so I use this special occasion for this week's Sandwich Wednesday.
A Ladin Sandwich with Spice Flatbread and Tyrolean Prosciutto
I spread some cream cheese on the flatbread, traditionally it's made without, but I was in the mood for it.
For 8 little flatbreads you need
rye flour 180g / 6.5 ounces
spelt flour 180g / 6.5 ounces
dry yeast 1 package (for 500g / 1 pound of flour)
water, lukewarm, 125ml
milk, lukewarm, 50ml
coriander seeds, ground, 1 teaspoon
fennel seeds, ground, 1/2 teaspoon
aniseed, ground, 1/2 teaspoon
caraway seeds, ground, 1/4 teaspoon
salt 1/2 teaspoon
olive oil to grease the baking sheet
For the sandwich
Tyrolean Prosciutto 3 slices for each flatbread
cream cheese (optional)
crushed black pepper
Combine the flour with the spices, yeast and salt, add the lukewarm water and the milk, slowly, not all at once (you might not need all of it). Mix with your dough hooks for a few minutes. The dough should be more on the dry side. Continue kneading and punching with your hands until you have an elastic dough ball, not sticky at all. Put the dough back into the bowl, cover with a tea towel and let it rise in the warm oven (35°C / 95°F) for 45 minutes. This works really well but make sure that your oven is set to top/ bottom heat and not to fan.
Take the dough out and punch it down. Divide it into 8 pieces and roll them out into discs (on a floured working surface, between 1 - 1 1/2 cm / around 1/2" thick). Cover with a tea towel and let them rise for another 25 minutes.
Set your oven to 250°C / 480°F. My oven has a special pizza setting which I use for this recipe but you can use top / bottom heat as well. Grease your baking sheet with some olive oil.
Put your flatbreads on the baking sheet and bake them on the lowest level for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Take them out and let them cool for 2 minutes. Cut a bread in half, spread with cream cheese and cover with a few slices of the prosciutto. You can sprinkle some crushed black pepper over it too.
Cipollata with Raclette Crostini, the perfect Soup for a January Day
I remember when I was a child people used to make onion soup with a slice of white bread and grilled cheese on top. I liked the soup, I liked the melted cheese but I would have prefered the bread if it hadn't been soaking in the soup getting soft and soggy. That was never my thing, I also don't dip my cookie in tea or croissant in my cappuccino. I don't like pastry pieces swimming about soaking up liquid, neither sweet nor savory. Each to their own but this is not for me.
However, the combination of onion soup, bread and cheese is great, especially in winter. It's warming, a treat to the body, and it's rich and feels like a real meal. I found peace with my bread very easily by just keeping it out of the soup, it stays crisp and crusty and I can still enjoy this hearty combination. My soup is bright red as I add tomatoes to the broth, a nice change to the snowy grey outside my window, and a little spicy because I cook dried chili with it. I mix the onions with thick strips of Tyrolean Prosciutto from Mr. Pizzinini in San Cassiano. The spices of the prosciutto fit perfectly to the soup as I also use clove, bay leaf and rosemary.
While the soup is bubbling in the pot for half an hour I put thick slices of white bread covered with Raclette cheese under the grill. This alone would have already put me in a very happy mood but together with the soup I must say I'm at peace with the world!
Cipollata - A Winter Soup with Onion, Tomatoes and Tyrolean Prosciutto and Raclette Crostini
For 4 people you need
For the crostini, cut a loaf of white bread into thick slices, cover with grated Raclette cheese (100g / 3.5 ounces of cheese should be enough for 4 people) and put under the grill until golden brown. Sprinkle with crushed pepper.
For the Soup
onions, cut in half and then into thin slices, 500g / 18 ounces
a piece of Tyrolean Prosciutto, cut into thick strips, 120g / 4 ounces
tinned tomatoes, chopped, 400g / 14 ounces
broth 1000ml
cloves 3
clove of garlic 1
bay leaf 1
rosemary, 1 sprig
sugar 1 tablespoon
salt and pepper
olive oil for frying
Heat a little oil in a large pot and fry the prosciutto until crisp. Take it out, add some more oil and fry the onions with the sugar for around 10 minutes until soft. Add the tomatoes, broth, spices and cook for 30 minutes on medium heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve together with the grilled Raclette crostini.
Trout al Cartoccio
Today I found some beautiful, fresh trout and they reminded me of the region where I grew up. Of the forest and its little streams meandering between trees, passing by the trout ponds which are close to my mother's house. I decided to get two of them and cook them al cartoccio - in parchment paper - together with Tyrolean prosciutto, olives, capers, garlic and bay leaves.
Trout has a strong, earthy taste which makes it perfect to combine with other stand out flavours. The closed parchment paper package makes this union of tastes even more intense. As extreme as this combination may sound, it is a perfect match. The trout can take the smoky prosciutto, the bay leaf, the olives and capers without loosing any of its own qualities.
The best part is opening the hot paper package on your plate and smelling the different aromas. Dip some bread in the juices and enjoy with a glass of white wine!
Trout al Cartoccio with Tyrolean Prosciutto, Olives and Capers
For 2 people you need
whole trout, cleaned, 2 (each around 300g / 10.5 ounces)
Tyrolean prosciutto, thin slices, 6 (or any other Italian prosciutto)
green olives 8
capers 2 tablespoons
garlic, quartered, 2
bay leaves 4
white wine 100ml
olive oil 4 tablespoons plus more to brush the parchment paper
salt and pepper
a small loaf of Ciabatta, for serving
parchment paper, to wrap the trout
Set your oven to 180°C / 355°F.
Rinse and dry the fish, season with salt and pepper (inside and out).
You need to prepare 2 parchment paper packages for 2 trout: for each package put 2 layers of parchment paper on top of each other, each around 20cm / 8" longer than the fish. Brush the top layer with oil.
Wrap each trout in 3 slices of prosciutto and place it in the middle of your oiled parchment paper. Put one bay leaf in the fish and one below. Fold up the sides of your package, twisting the ends without closing the top and fill with half of the olives, capers, garlic, olive oil and white wine. Close the top and fold twice. Repeat with the second trout.
Place both bags in a baking dish or pan and put in the oven for 10-12 minutes (depending on the size of the fish). You can tell the fish is done when its earthy smell starts to fill the air. Carefully open one of your packages, if you can lift the flesh off the bone with a fork it's done.
