Norbert Niederkofler: 5 Handpicked Recipes from South Tyrol
Thanks to his three Michelin stars, Norbert Niederkofler is considered the best chef in the entire Alpine region. Here are five hand-picked recipes from the master himself.
September 19, 2023
Diaphragm with wild garlic
© Alex Moling
Ingredients for 4 people
Diaphragm
- 400 g beef diaphragm
- 80 g fresh wild garlic
- 25 g rub
Preparation
- Grill the diaphragm on a charcoal grill or a konro (Japanese grill) for 1 minute on each side. Season with the rub and let it rest next to the embers on the grill.
- Meanwhile, grill the wild garlic leaves on the grill for 30 seconds.
- Serve the meat with a core temperature of 42 °C, place the grilled wild garlic leaves on top.
Enrosadira with chamomile cream
© Alex Moling
Ingredients for 4 people
juice of red fruits
- 50 g red currants
- 50 g strawberries
- 50 g raspberries
- 50 g wild strawberries
- 50 g sweet cherries
- 10 g grape cherry blossom syrup
Other ingredients
- 30 wild strawberries
- 10 sweet cherries
- 50 g rhubarb
- 20 individual grape cherry blossoms
- 10 g elderflower blossoms
- 12 verbena tips
- 10 mint leaves
- 10 g thyme
Chamomile cream
- 250 g cream
- 10 g dried chamomile flowers
- 10 g grape cherry blossom syrup
Preparation
- Juice from red fruits: Juice the red fruits in a steam juicer. Allow the juice to cool and mix with the syrup.
- Chamomile cream: heat the cream to 40 ° C, add the chamomile flowers and infuse for an hour. Drain, let it cool and whip the cream.
- Other ingredients: Cut the fruit and rhubarb into pieces and put them in a bowl. Pour the juice of red fruits over it. Leave to infuse for about 20 minutes.
- Arrange the fruits in deep plates and decorate with flowers and herbs. Serve the chamomile cream separately.
Mountain herb salad with bread chips
© Alex Moling
Ingredients for 4 people
Salad base
- 50 g Misticanza
- 30 g lettuce
Aromatic Mix
- 5 g licorice herb
- 5 g bitter fennel
- 10 g wild spinach
- 5 g mountain thyme
- 10 g purslane
- 5 g golden balm
- 5 g large nasturtium
- 15 g oregano
- 15 g arugula
- 15 g groundsel
- 10 g dill
- 15 g glueweed
- 10 g alpine clover
- 5 g wild sorrel
- 5 g watercress
- 5 g mountain pepper
- 10 g verbena
- 5 g tarragon
- 10 g lemon balm
- 5 g birds vetch
Flower
- 5 g forget-me-not
- 5 g chamomile
- 5 g yarrow
- 5 g rue
- 5 g arugula
- 5 g alpine clover
Dressing
- 600 g rhubarb
- 300 ml kombucha with elderflower
- 60 ml elderflower syrup
- 300 ml grape seed oil
shaking bread chips
- 110 g shaking bread
- 100 ml sunflower oil
- 330 ml water
- 4 g salt.
Flaxseed chips
- 160 g flaxseed
- 300 ml water
- 3 g salt
- 200 g sunflower oil.
Preparation
- Shaking bread chips: Finely mix the shaking bread and emulsify with sunflower oil, water and salt for 3 minutes in the Thermomix at highest speed. Pour the mixture into a nonstick skillet and fry. After a few minutes, flip and cook until the batter is crispy. Remove from heat and break into small pieces.
- Flaxseed chips: Soak the flax seeds in water for 6-8 hours. Then salt them. Spread the mixture on a baking mat and leave to dry for a few hours in the oven at 40 °C. Then fry the chips in oil heated to 180 °C.
- Dressing: centrifuge the rhubarb cold to extract the juice. Put in the refrigerator overnight to allow the impurities to settle. Blend the clear juice with all the other ingredients in the Thermomix for a few seconds.
- Salad: pluck the lettuce leaves a little small and dress with dressing and salt. Arrange in a deep plate and add flowers and herbs. Finally, spread the chips on top.
Ravioli with Good Heinrich
© Alex Moling
Ingredients for 4 people
dough
- 210 g wheat flour type 00
- 100 g water
filling
- 250 g Good Heinrich
- 12 g shallots
- 25 g onions
- 10 g butter
- 20 g cooked potatoes
- 15 g mountain cheese Formai de Mut
- Salt
Morel broth
- 70 g dried morels
- 1 l water
- 1 shallot
- 1 bay leaf
- 65 g butter
- ½ clove garlic
- 50 ml Terlan white wine
Morel foam
- 250 ml morel broth
- 60 g cream
- 20 g crème fraîche
- 15 g nut butter
- 200 g hawk mushrooms
- Salt
Other ingredients
- 10 g sage oil
- 5 g meadowfoam flowers
- 10 tips of Good Heinrich
Preparation
- Dough: Put the flour in a mixing bowl and place it on the mixer. While mixing, slowly pour boiling hot water until a homogeneous dough is formed. Cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel and let it rest in the refrigerator for a few hours.
- Filling: wash the Good Heinrich, blanch for a few seconds in boiling salted water and rinse in ice water. Then chop into small pieces. Peel the shallots and onions, chop finely and sauté in the butter. Add the Good Heinrich, sauté briefly and remove the pan from the heat. When the mixture has cooled down, add the cooked potatoes and mountain cheese. Mix everything until it's smooth and season with salt.
- Morel broth: soak the dried morels in water. Cut the shallots into julienne and slowly sweat them in a pan with the bay leaf, butter and garlic. Drain the morels through a sieve, collecting the soaking water. Then add the morels to the pan, sauté for a few minutes and deglaze with the white wine. Add the soaking water and cook for 40 minutes. Then drain through a sieve.
- Morel foam: cut the hawk mushrooms into julienne and place on a perforated tray. Dry in a dehydrator at 55 °C for 4-5 hours. Then pulverize in the Thermomix. Heat the morel broth, add all ingredients and let steep briefly. Then strain through a straining cloth to remove the hawk mushroom powder residue. Finally, blend with a hand blender until frothy.
- Ravioli: roll out the dough thinly, cut into 2.5 cm squares and fill with the filling. Cook the ravioli in boiling salted water. Place ravioli in deep plates, serve with morel mousse, sage oil, meadowfoam flowers and good Heinrich tips.
Leeks with buttermilk
© Alex Moling
Ingredients for 4 people
Rye dough
- 450 g coarse salt
- 350 g rye flour
- 435 g whole wheat flour
- 8 egg yolks
- 7 eggs
Buttermilk sauce
- 1.5 l buttermilk
- 125 g butter
- Salt
Aromatic herbs
- 50 g verbena leaves
- 20 g mountain thyme
- 10 g lemon balm
- 10 g marjoram
- 1 mint leaf.
leeks
- 2 small stalks leeks
Other ingredients
- Chive oil
Preparation
- Rye dough: knead all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and let it rest in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- Buttermilk sauce: bring the buttermilk to a boil. Pour through a fine sieve to filter out turbidity. Then reduce to 350 ml over medium heat and whisk with the butter; season to taste.
- Roll out the dough to a thickness of 5 mm and cut into two rectangles (30 cm long, 20 cm wide).
- Put the herbs on one half of the dough, place the cleaned leeks on top, lightly salt and drizzle a few drops of chive oil. Cover with the remaining herbs and close with the second half of the dough.
- Cook for 12 minutes under glowing coals. Then cut the crust with a knife, remove the leeks from the herbs, arrange on a plate and finish with buttermilk sauce and chive oil. Discard the bread crust.
Read more: 7 Questions for Norbert Niederkofler
This article appeared in the Falstaff TRAVEL issue South Tyrol Special 2023.