Slow Food Waitakere and Canederli with Cheese and Onion Sauce

Yesterday we had the Slow Food Waitakere AGM at my place, followed by brunch, which was actually a long lunch! Everybody brought food and drinks, and it was such a great spread! So lovely to have so many good Slow Food friends who happen to be good cooks too!

And now for the recipe of the day: Canederli (Knödel in German) is something my Mum made often when I was a child. There is no strict recipe because they are made with left-overs, and the base is left-over bread. But here you can find my basic recipe, with step by step instructions. I really prefer them in a broth, but the other day I wanted to make them with onions and cheese, I didn't think of publishing them on the blog as the photos are not exactly pretty, but my husband loved them! He said that he actually preferred them served this way! Once again left over bread was put into good use!

Canederli with Cheese and Onion Sauce

Prepare the canederli and cook them in a light vegetables stock (instructions here). Peel and finely slice 4 onions (white or brown) and simmer them slowly with a little olive oil and salt. I cooked them in my Le Creuset pot, on low and keeping the lid on, for about 45 minutes. I added a little stock from the canederli from time to time, but just a drop. When the onions were as soft as butter I added the canederli (cooked and drained, keep the stock to drink!), I grated some edam cheese on top, added a sprig of fresh sage and put the lid back on for 5 minutes. Then I served them, with lots of sauce. Yes, they were perfect and filling for a winter evening!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Canederli, i.e. never throw away bread!

To Love Bread is to Love Life

I never throw away bread, I use it to make a variety of dishes, and in particular canederli, big bread dumplings typical of the North East of Italy. My mum used to make them often in winter for us, and serve them with broth. There is no fixed recipe, it depends on the kind of bread you have, and the other ingredients are always optional. I like to use a mixture of wholemeal and white bread, which gives best results, but any bread will do. Here I had some old white bread only, the resulting canederli tend to be a little pale, but the taste is good anyway.

Break the bread and soak it with milk for a few hours. Add the milk little by little, or you may risk to add too much. When the bread is soft, mush with a fork and add some finely chopped parsley, some salt and pepper, and other spices, if you like. I like to add smoked paprika and smoked salt, and small cubes of leftover cheese gone hard.

My mum used to add small pieces of speck, the smoked North Italian ham, for flavour. As a veggie I don't, but I did find these vegetarian slices which are very suited. Just cut a slice or two into small pieces and add to your mixture.

Non vegetarians often ask me what is the point of making vegetarian mock meat like 'mortadella' (in this case). I rarely eat this food, exactly as a meat eater should rarely eat the real meaty mortadella (certainly not every day!). But just like some non-vegetarians consider normal transforming an animal (in this case a pig) into a complex sausage like mortadella, some vegetarians see no problem in transforming some tofu or gluten into something similar to a sausage. Creating complex food is what man does in the search of different flavours, and to have more variety, and for versatility. These slices came handy when I had to make panini for mountain excursions, but I think that I will keep them as a 'once-in-a-while' treat :-)

In any case, this passage is not necessary for making canederli, instead of adding mock or real mortadella or speck, you can add cooked spinach, fennel seeds, grated carrots, peas, leftovers.... anything you like.

Next you have to add some flour and mix until you get a sticky dough. Keep a bowl of water on the side, wet your hands, and shape the canederli into balls.

The canederli are cooked in vegetable stock, but now be very careful: if the stock is boiling, when you add the canederli (which are quite soft) they will break into pieces. Make sure that you bring the stock down to a very light simmering (or turn off the heat for a few minutes). Add the canederli one by one and gently stir with a wooden spoon just to make sure that they are not breaking or sticking to the bottom of the pot. Simmer for 20 minutes (depending on the size of your canederli) and then serve hot, with some stock.

To eat just break in the plate, add some grated cheese if you like, and dig in! Real filling comfort food!

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini©