Chalet classics to cook at home

Three classic recipes from the rustic ski chalets in the Salzburger Saalachtal…

…to bring that holiday feeling back home with you through food.

Skiers and snowboarders criss-cross the pistes of the Salzburger Saalachtal right up till lunchtime. And then they happily and exhaustedly make their way down to one of the many chalets to be warmly greeted by the delicious aroma of the classic dishes: cheese gnocchi (Kasnockn), cheese dumpling soup (Kaspressknödelsuppe) and Kaiserschmarrn pancakes. These three chalet classics are the culinary highlight of a successful day in the snow for many winter sport enthusiasts Scents are known to bring memories flooding back.

To allow us to bring a bit of holiday joy with us back home, we’re revealing three recipes that are guaranteed to arouse your anticipation for your holiday in the Salzburger Saalachtal! Hearty Kasnockn made with traditional, hearty Pinzgau beer cheese, delicious Kaspressknödel served as a soup or with salad and airy, fluffy Kaiserschmarrn pancakes – the sweet finishing touch to every pit stop.

Kaspressknödel

Kaspressknödel, cheese dumplings are a real Pinzgau speciality. These flattened dumplings made with savoury Pinzgau beer cheese are deep-fried until they’re crisp and are then covered with a robust, clear beef broth before serving. These freshly fried cheese dumplings are also perfect for serving with fresh salad. If you can’t find any real “Pinzgauer Kas” – the traditional, lean beer cheese found in this region – you can simply replace this with any full-flavoured mountain cheese. Here’s a tip: Kaspressknödel are excellent for freezing, so feel free to make an extra large batch!

Ingredients for 6 people:

300 g Pinzgau beer cheese
250 g diced dumpling bread (Knödelbrot)
4 eggs
a dash of flour
approx. 1/8 l warm milk
fresh parsley, chopped
chives
a pinch of salt
oil

How to prepare: 1. Cut the Pinzgau cheese into small cubes and mix together with the dumpling bread. Pour the warm milk over the mixture and mix together with the eggs, parsley and salt. Gradually stir in a dash of flour to bind the dough. If the dough is too dense simply add a dash more milk. 1. Cut the Pinzgau cheese into small cubes and mix together with the dumpling bread. Pour the warm milk over the mixture and mix together with the eggs, parsley and salt. Gradually stir in a dash of flour to bind the dough. If the dough is too dense simply add a dash more milk. 3. In a pan with about 2 fingers of oil (rapeseed oil) heated to around 160 °C, fry the Kaspressknödel on both sides until golden brown. 4. Serve the Kaspressknödel in a beef soup garnished with chives.

Kasnockn

Considered by many to be THE chalet dish par excellence: Pinzgauer Kasnockn! When you’re on holiday it’s best to order a large portion for the entire family to share since diving into this special dish served in a large cast iron skilled is a truly convivial experience. And scraping the crusty “Prinze”, or crust, from the bottom of the pan is considered by many to be the best part of eating these cheese gnocchi. If you want to cook Kasnockn at home and you don’t have a cast iron skillet, you can simply use a non-stick pan instead. The unrivalled full-bodied taste of Kasnockn comes from real Pinzgauer Kas cheese. This lean beer cheese is locally produced by many businesses in the Salzburger Saalachtal and is available to buy at a number of farms. Further information can be obtained from the Tourist Information.

Ingredients for 6 people:

250 g flour
2 eggs
1/8 l water
1/8 l milk
salt
30 g butter

100 g onions finely diced
150 ml soup
200 g Pinzgau beer cheese finely diced
30 g browned butter
100 g onions
Chives finely chopped

How to prepare:

1. Mix the flour together with the eggs, milk, water and a pinch of salt with a wooden spoon to form a rough dumpling dough and leave this to sit for a while. Press the dough through a dumpling grater into boiling salted water. If you don’t have a dumpling grater at home, you can also use a sieve or colander with large holes. 2. Boil the dumplings for about three minutes. When they rise to the surface of the water, strain the dumplings and rinse with cold water. 3. Heat butter in a cast iron skillet and sweat the diced onions in the butter. Add the cooled dumplings and deglaze the pan with soup. 4. Sprinkle the finely diced pieces of Pinzgau beer cheese over the skillet and lightly brown everything until the cheese is melted. 5. In a second pan, brown the finely chopped onion rings in browned butter. Add these to the Kasnockn before serving and sprinkle generously with fresh chives.

Kaiserschmarrn

An imperial dessert after a day on the slopes! Fluffy, sweet and simply gorgeous in combination with fruity sour stewed plums – this popular pastry dish brings a smile to every winter sport enthusiast. If you’re not a fan of raisins, you can simply leave these out. Here’s a tip: Tear the pancake into pieces with two forks just before serving – never cut it!

Ingredients for 6 people

For the pancakes

8 eggs
5 Tbsp granulated sugar
240 g cake flour
1/2 l milk
60 g raisins
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
1 tbsp rum
a pinch of salt
100 g butter for baking
sugar for sprinkling

For the stewed plum sauce

1 kg plums
1 cinnamon stick
Cloves
200 g sugar
the juice and zest of 1 lemon
150 ml water

How to prepare: 1. For the plum sauce, wash and halve the plums and remove the pit. Add the cinnamon stick, cloves, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest to the water and bring to a boil. 2. Add the plums and boil until soft (around 30 min.). 3. Allow the plums to chill.

4. Marinate the raisins in the rum. 5. Separate the eggs and beat the yolk together with the milk, vanilla sugar and flour until smooth. Whisk the egg whites together with the granulated sugar and a pinch of salt until fi rmly whipped and fold into the batter. 6. Heat 100 g butter in a shallow pan and pour the batter so that it coats the bottom of the pan. 7. Now scatter the raisins across the batter. 8. Cook the pancake until golden on both sides and finish baking in a preheated oven. 9. Use two forks to tear the pancake into pieces, sprinkle with plenty of icing sugar and serve with the stewed plums.