Stories of Slow Living in Italy
As we are all craving the opportunity to travel, let us take you on a journey to Italy’s South Tyrol, a haven within the Italian Alps, Sicily and beyond. If there is one thing we can take away from the Italian lifestyle, it is how they wholeheartedly embrace the concept of slow living. With their culture enriched with a love for honouring locally grown, seasonal produce whilst celebrating culinary traditions, it comes as no surprise that this ethical movement towards cuisine originated here. Someone who has played a pivotal role in the slow living movement is chef Norbert Niederkofler. Discover how Norbert’s ethos towards food pays tribute to nature, foraging for produce and preserving bio-diversity.
Norbert’s Prawns With Peas & Ricotta Di Volcano
Norbert concludes his trip to Sicily, engaging in conversations with like-minded Sicilian chefs who also use their surrounding territory to inspire their culinary creations. Watch the video below to see how the considered pairing of fresh ricotta cream, peas and herbs create a delightful experience for the eyes and the palate.
Perfect Results with Moisture Plus
Adding moisture when cooking is a technique that has been utilised across many cultures for centuries to ensure produce doesn’t dry out. However, no longer is it necessary to add water manually – our Moisture Plus feature takes care of this for you. Simply place a glass of water under the syphon and the oven will draw up as much as it requires. You can even create a delicious infusion by adding fresh herbs to the water, just as chef Norbert does when crafting his delicate prawn dish.
Norbert’s Sicilian Stuffed Sardines
Whilst the mountains of his home embrace, protect and inspire, happiness for Norbert is a trip to Sicily. After some time away, Norbert has rediscovered his love for this region and its sea, that offers many wonderful resources. Watch the video below to see how Norbert hero’s sardines. Bait for the fisherman and a household ingredient – that much like salt or oil, should never be overlooked.
Perfect storage with PerfectFresh Pro
Norbert notes that it is important that sardines are kept fresh, something which is easily achievable with our PerfectFresh refrigerator drawers. The drawers create the ideal temperature and humidity to ensure taste and nutrition are preserved and the shelf-life of the food is maximized, therefore minimizing waste within the home.
Norbert’s Sicilian Style Octopus
Join us as our Stories of Slow Living take us to the shores of Sicily – where the mountainous, rocky lands overlook the sea and hide precious foraging treasures, just like the Salina caper. Engrained in local culinary traditions, this small yet magnificent ingredient is often the hero of many dishes – from starters to desserts. Watch the video below as Norbert incorporates the capers in his ‘Sicilian style octopus.’
Perfect results with our vacuum sealing drawer
Balancing the delicate flavour of the octopus with the pungent notes of the capers is easy thanks to our vacuum sealing drawer. Norbert uses the drawer to prepare the octopus for sous-vide cooking in the combi steam oven to create a super soft texture. The drawer has many other useful applications such as portioning and storing food which is perfect for those who love to do big batch cooking.
Introducing Norbert
Renowned for his world-class restaurants St Hubertus and AlpiNN, Norbert Niederkofler is a three Michelin-starred chef and author of Cook the Mountain, who has recently been awarded a green Michelin star for his contribution towards sustainability within the world of fine dining. With a passion for supporting local producers and creating sustainable cuisine, his dishes are the perfect synergy between ethics and aesthetics.
Cook the Mountain
“Cook the Mountain is my way of being, my way of acting.” Cook the Mountain is a philosophy to cook with what is near you. Norbert uses his alpine surroundings as a resource to gather produce that is readily available to create healthy, wholesome and authentic meals. Inspired by the birth of his first son, Norbert has an invigorated outlook towards cookery and a rediscovery of creativity, elevating his dishes to a work of art.
Norbert’s Tyrolean Bread
Flour, water, leavening agent and salt. The list of ingredients for bread looks modest, but in fact the process is complex. For Norbert, creating the humble loaf of bread is easy thanks to our built-in automatic programme. Watch the video below to see how effortlessly he creates bread that has a light and firm consistency inside with a golden crust on the outside.
Norbert’s Aromatic Orzotto with Verbena Jelly
Guided by nature, Norbert uses the mountain herbs surrounding his home to add intense flavour to all his dishes. Watch the video below to see how he pairs fragrant verbena with nutty steamed barley to create a surprisingly zesty dish.
Perfect results with Miele’s TempControl cooktop
Cooking orzotto typically requires a lot of patience as you need to continually stir the barley to ensure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. For Norbert this is easy thanks to Miele’s TempControl induction cooktop that perfectly maintains the temperature of the pan throughout the entire cook. This clever technology also allows him to keep his dish at the ideal serving temperature for up to two hours at the touch of a button.
Norbert’s ‘Val Venosta’ Apricot Jam
Norbert spent decades traveling the world cooking and perfecting his craft, until he yearned for home and its local specialties. With apricots being one of his region’s most common and humble fruits, he loves to use them to make jam so can enjoy this seasonal fruit all year round. Watch the video below to see how he brings this recipe to life.
Endless possibilities with Miele’s steam ovens
Although you would typically associate a steam oven with steam cooking, there are many ways you can use this versatile appliance. From heating crockery and proving dough through to making yoghurt or jam – the possibilities are endless. Norbert highlights the convenient automatic bottling function which is accessible at the touch of a button, making it easier than ever before to create this special preserve.
Norbert’s Spelt Fusilli with Tyrolean Carbonara
Norbert reflects with nostalgia about how special it was to enjoy speck during his childhood. Watch the video below to see how he hero’s this ingredient, perfecting the results with quality and innovation made possible thanks to our combi steam oven.
Culinary perfection with our combi steam oven
Norbert is able to achieve the perfect consistency of egg yolk for his Tyrolean Carbonara thanks to the intelligent automatic programmes on our combi steam oven. Whether you like your egg soft and delicate, medium, or hard boiled we have a setting that will suit your individual taste. As our combi steam oven allows for temperature adjustment of just 1°C, you could even prepare your egg via the sous-vide method at 63°C for an exquisite result.
A conversation with the Future Food System team
Norbert recently sat down with the incredible team behind the Future Food System – a fully sustainable pop-up house located in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD at Federation Square. Watch their fascinating discussion below as they open-up about their shared values around creating ethical cuisine.
