Jamon Serrano & Chili Olive Oil Kipfler

The other day I was given by a friend some Spanish ham, “Jamon Serrano”, mountain ham from the black pig in the region of Spain. This called a special lunch with some of my favorite potatoes, “Kipfler”.

Preparation:

Keep the ham in room temperature for at least 24hours to adjust and sweat.

Cook the potatoes until soft and slice. Combine some mayonaise with salt and pepper, add extra virgin olive oil and chili olive oil. Toss the sliced potato and sprinkle with sliced shallots. Use fresh grinded black pepper and truffle sea salt to season. Arrange the slices of ham on a plate and give it a good grind of black pepper. Spoon the warm potato salad next to the ham and serve with vivigar sprayed greens.

Jamón serrano (literally mountain ham) is a type of jamón (dry-cured Spanish ham), which is generally served raw in thin slices, similar to the Italian prosciutto crudo. A foreleg prepared (and eaten) in the same manner is called paleta.

Fresh hams are trimmed and cleaned, then stacked and covered with salt for about two weeks in order to draw off excess moisture and preserve the meat from spoiling. The salt is then washed off and the hams are hung to dry for about six months. Finally, the hams are hung in a cool, dry place for six to eighteen months, depending on the climate, as well as the size and type of ham being cured. The drying sheds (secaderos) are usually built at higher elevations, which is why the ham is called mountain ham.

Mandarin-Laeckerli Pudding

Christmas is over and if you are like me and having Christmas cookies, Stollen, Gingerbread and Yulelog left over and sick of all that to be eaten, create a dessert for your friends and family who will for sure come around these days!

Having bags of Swiss Basler Laeckerli leftover from the celebration days before, I created a dessert with ingredients not always used. Mini Mandarin and Mandarin zest Olive oil.

Makes 4 Portion

240 gram Basler Laeckerli

200 gram Milk, full fat

100 gram Cream, 35%

1 Egg yolk

1 Egg

40 gram Mandarin Olive Oil

4 pcs. Mandarin

Preparation

Soak half the amount of  Laeckerli in cold milk for one hour. Combine the cream with the egg and yolk and drain the milk of the Laeckerli into the mixture. Scoop the soaked Laeckerli into your dishes and arrange the other half on top. Pour the liquid mixture over the Laeckerli. Brush with some Mandarin Olive Oil before backing in water bad for 20 minutes at 160 Celsius. When firm to the touch, serve with some Mandarin segements, Mandarin Olive Oil and dust with icing sugar.