Mushroom Ragout

Ragout preparation

• 1
  Clean the mushrooms and cut them into eighths. Finely chop the onion. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Strip the thyme and marjoram leaves from their stems.
• 2
  In a pan over medium heat, melt the lard, add the garlic and onion, and sauté, stirring frequently, until softened. Add the mushrooms and sauté, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Add salt, pepper, caraway, and thyme, mix, and sauté until all the water released by the mushrooms has evaporated.
• 3
  Pour in the cream and reduce it by half. Finally, stir in the marjoram leaves.

Dumpling preparation

• 1
  Preheat the oven to 140 °C. Cut the rolls into 1 cm cubes, place them on a baking sheet, and dry them in the preheated oven for 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
• 2
  Finely chop the onion, ham, and mushrooms. In a non-stick pan over medium heat, melt the butter, add the onion, and sauté, stirring frequently, until translucent. Reduce the heat to one-third, add the ham and mushrooms, and sauté, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
• 3
  Separate the eggs into whites and yolks. In a bowl, whisk the yolks, add the cream, season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg. Pour the mixture over the white bread cubes and mix. Add the chopped parsley and the onion, ham, and mushroom mixture, then mix.
• 4
  Whip the egg whites into stiff peaks and gently fold them into the mixture in two additions. With wet hands, form balls about 5 cm in diameter.
• 5
  Place a steamer insert into a pot and pour in enough water so that it does not reach the bottom of the insert. Bring the water to a boil, place the dumplings on the steamer insert, cover with a lid, and steam for 7 minutes.