Croutons with Savoy Cabbage, Casera, and Speck

Croutons with savoy cabbage, Casera, and speck are a hearty and flavorful dish, an excellent choice for a rustic dinner or as an appetizer on a winter evening. Here’s how to prepare them:

Ingredients

• Slices of rustic bread
• Savoy cabbage (white cabbage) already cleaned and cut into strips
• Casera (a typical cheese from Valtellina) or another semi-hard cheese, sliced
• Thin slices of speck
• Garlic
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Butter (optional)

Preparation

1. Prepare the cabbage: in a large pan, sauté some garlic in extra virgin olive oil. Add the cabbage strips, salt and pepper, and let it cook covered over medium-low heat until it becomes soft but still al dente, stirring occasionally. If you like, you can add a knob of butter towards the end of cooking to enrich the flavor.

2. Prepare the croutons: in the meantime, toast the slices of rustic bread in the oven or on a grill until they become crisp and golden.

3. Assemble the croutons: on each crouton, place a portion of cooked cabbage, a slice of Casera, and a slice of speck.

4. Finalize the cooking: put the croutons in the oven at 200 °C until the cheese melts and the speck starts to become crispy around the edges.

5. Serve immediately, accompanying the croutons with a glass of full-bodied red wine to enhance the flavors.

Curiosity

Casera is a DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) cheese that perfectly complements the sweet and slightly smoked taste of speck and the soft texture of the cooked savoy cabbage. This combination of flavors represents a marriage between the culinary traditions of northern Italy, particularly Lombardy with its Casera and Trentino-South Tyrol with its speck.