The bread balls from the snowy Alps (canederli or Knödel)

Sometimes it is hard to deal with your bread two o three days after the date of purchase: it is not exactly fresh and tasty as the first day and it certainly doesn't appeal your organoleptic sympathy. How to re-use stale bread then? The bread shouldn't of course be moldy, but some people will throw it away in disgust: if I am not mistaken the percentage of throw-away bread in the UK is simply preposterous! People ignore there are at least three methods with which you may turn a disadvantage into a pleasing opportunity:

1. grilled: so to obtain a bruschetta (pronounce brusketta) and it should be dressed with freshly chopped tomatoes;
2. moistened: dress the bread with a bit of extra-virgin olive oil, put on top a creamy cheese such as Brie or Camembert, sprinkle with a touch of oregano and toast in the oven until the cheese melts;
3. make canederli (also called Knödel in the German-speaking world).

Canederli are balls of stale bread stuffed with many ingredients: the recipes vary a lot but the bread (either white or whole-wheat) is the only ingredient that never changes. If you leave the croutons to marinate into the milk for some hours it will turn out easier to manipulate the new relived pastry:

Ingredients:

• 2 liters of broth (either meaty or vegetarian);
• Butter 30 gr (to melt and add to the bread);
• Chives & parsley: according to taste;
• 1 table spoon of flour;
• 150 ml of milk;
• a sprinkle of nutmeg;
• 200 gr of still bread;
• 100 gr of speck;
• 2 organic eggs.

Cutting the speck (an Alps ham) in small squares: 

buy around 150 gr of speck,

100 for the recipe, 50 gr for the irresistible temptation

to taste it .

The bread wetted with whole milk, the  eggs, 

some home grown chives and speck before kneading

The pastry: how the universe was before

the big-bang

How they should look like before cooking:

if all the ingredients were fresh, 

they re suitable for being frozen

After having cooked 15 minutes in broth, 

they can be dressed with some butter

or served in a bowl with some broth.

And the happy parenthesis on dishes based on broth may be concluded, for the moment!