Norbert Niederkofler is known as a pioneer in many things, his principle fame emanates from his remarkable restaurant ‘St Hubertus’, in Italy near the border with Austria. The restaurant has some fairly unusual and modest origins, in 1996 the Pizzinini family converted the back section of an existing pizzeria into a gastronomic offering. The aim was to reinvent their image in order to appeal to the more international, culinary enthusiast.
This dream was realized with remarkable rapidity, when St Hubertus was awarded its first much coveted Michelin Star in 2000. Seven years later won its second, and 11 years after that, the third.
Norbert Niederkofler is also a pioneer of his ‘Cook the Moutains’ philosophy, and today we share one of his glorious recipes which celebrates alpine inspired cuisine when cooked in one’s own home.
The philosophy embraces principles that many are looking to embrace moving forward to a better, cleaner and fairer world. Through gastronomy, ‘Cook the Mountains’ celebrates environmental sustainability by gathering together a network of chefs, farmers, breeders, mountaineers entrepreneurs from mountain regions and anyone else with a passion for the mountains.
Today’s recipe, Spelt Fusilli ‘Monograno Felicetti’ alla carbonara Tirolese is one that features in St Hubertus and can be easily adapted to be cooked at home.
Ingredients
8 speck slices (can be local ham or bacon)
4 organic eggs
280g fusilli
2 spring onions
30g grated cheese
12 lardon slices
Butter
Grape seed oil
Method
Dry the speck in the oven at 80ºC for three hours then mill. Cook the soft boiled eggs and cool in iced water – separate the egg white from the egg yolk keeping only the second one. Braise the onions in the butter. Cook the pasta in salted water and drain when al dente. Stir fry with the braised onions, add cheese and butter and a little bit of oil. Season to taste.
Form a nest of fusilli at the middle of the plate, place the egg yolk, the bacon slices and finish with the speck powder.
