Recipe: Hearty Chicken Broth with Nettle Dumplings

"Schöberl" are a popular soup ingredient in Austrian cuisine. They come in many different variations. The chefs of the Culianrium Alpentraum came up with this healthy and delicious recipe. And here's how it goes:

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs (separate egg whites and yolks)
• 50 g sifted flour
• 1/2 small onion
• about 15 nettles (tips)
• garlic to taste
• Spices: salt, pepper, nutmeg

Preparation:

Beat the two egg whites until stiff. Then fold in the 2 yolks, nettles, and 50 g of sifted flour. Finely chop 15 nettle tips, ½ small onion, and optionally some garlic. Sauté everything in butter. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and mix everything into a dough. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C. Spread the mixture finger-thick on baking paper and bake in the oven at 180°C for about 15 minutes. After cooling, cut the "Schöberl" into diamond shapes.

A hearty broth not only warms you up, but it also contains a long list of healthy ingredients. A great advantage: its preparation is simple. The Culinarium Alpentraum has made use of a whole chicken in this recipe and utilizes the chicken carcasses (the leftover framework) in the broth. This way, the soup is rich in bone-strengthening collagen. Of course, you can also use a traditional soup chicken instead of the carcasses if you prefer.

Ingredients:

• about 2 liters of water
• peppercorns
• salt
• 2 juniper berries
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 pinch of nutmeg
• vegetable soup mix (leeks, celery, carrots, parsley, onion with skin)
• chicken carcasses

Preparation:

Bring approximately 2 liters of water to a boil with salt, one peppercorn, 2 juniper berries, 2 bay leaves, a pinch of nutmeg, and vegetable soup mix (leeks, celery, carrots, parsley, onion with skin) together with the chicken carcasses. Then add the boned and skinned thighs and wings, and simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove the meat from the bones. Tip: You can set aside the bones to use, for example, in a sauce base.