Leipziger Allerlei

The full version has crayfish butter and semolina dumplings, which is what makes it more than mixed vegetables.

Veal, Shellfish, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains shellfish, veal.

Ingredients

For the vegetables

• 200 g young peas, podded
• 200 g carrots, in batons
• 200 g green beans, topped
• 250 g asparagus, tips and upper stems
• 30 g dried morels, soaked
• 2 celery sticks, sliced
• 200 g cauliflower, in small florets
• 1 small kohlrabi, diced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 40 g butter, to toss them in

For the sauce and dumplings

• 250 g whole crayfish, cooked
• 80 g butter
• 300 ml veal stock
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons chervil, chopped
• 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 60 g semolina
• 150 ml milk
• 20 g butter, for the dumplings
• 1 egg

Method

1. THE FULL VERSION HAS CRAYFISH BUTTER AND SEMOLINA DUMPLINGS, WHICH IS WHAT MAKES IT MORE THAN MIXED VEGETABLES. Its article draws that line itself: the complete dish ALSO INCLUDES A SAUCE MADE FROM CRAYFISH BUTTER, CRAYFISH TAILS AND SEMOLINA DUMPLINGS. Without those three it is a vegetable plate; with them it is this.
2. AND THE ARTICLE SAYS WHAT THE TIN IS. Leipziger Allerlei IS ALSO AVAILABLE IN TINS AND IS A SYNONYM FOR A MIXTURE OF PEAS AND CARROTS WITH PIECES OF ASPARAGUS -- and THE CANNED VEGETABLES HAVE LITTLE IN COMMON WITH THE ORIGINAL RECIPE, which is the article's own verdict and not mine.
3. THE VEGETABLES ARE A LIST, NOT A FIXED SET. The article names YOUNG PEAS, CARROTS, GREEN BEANS, ASPARAGUS HEADS, MORELS, AND CELERY, adds that CAULIFLOWER AND KOHLRABI ARE OFTEN ADDED and onions occasionally, and says outright that there are NUMEROUS VARIATIONS TO THE BASIC RECIPE.
4. THEY ARE COOKED SEPARATELY AND THEN TOSSED IN BUTTER. That is the article's own sequence -- CUT AND COOKED SEPARATELY, TOSSED IN BUTTER AND ARRANGED IN A BOWL -- and it is not fussiness: peas take three minutes and kohlrabi takes twelve. One pan of boiling salted water, one vegetable at a time, lifted out with a spider.
5. THE CRAYFISH BUTTER IS MADE FROM THE SHELLS, not bought. Pick the tails out and keep them; pound the shells and heads, warm them in the butter for fifteen minutes without colouring, then strain. The butter comes out orange and tastes of the whole animal.
6. THE SAUCE IS NOT THICKENED WITH FLOUR, AND THAT IS THE STEP TO GET RIGHT. The article's Preparation is explicit: THE CRAB BUTTER IS MELTED, DILUTED WITH VEAL STOCK, THICKENED WITH EGG YOLK AND POURED OVER THE VEGETABLES. An egg-yolk liaison, not a roux.
7. SO IT MUST NOT BOIL ONCE THE YOLKS ARE IN. Warm the crayfish butter with the stock, whisk a ladle of it into the yolks, return the lot and hold it below a simmer until it coats. Boiled, it scrambles and separates.
8. THE ROUX IS ONE OF THE ARTICLE'S OWN VARIATIONS, not the method -- it lists WITH BROWN BUTTER, THICKENED WITH ROUX, USING METTWURST INSTEAD OF CRABS, TOASTED BREADCRUMBS. Flour is the easier route and a different dish.
9. THE SEMOLINA DUMPLINGS ARE COOKED IN MILK AND SET BEFORE SHAPING. Semolina into simmering milk with the butter, stirred until it leaves the side of the pan, cooled, then the egg beaten in and small dumplings shaped with two spoons. Poached five minutes; boiled hard they disintegrate.
10. NUTMEG, CHERVIL AND PARSLEY GO IN AT THE END, which the article names alongside the salt and white pepper. Vegetables in the dish, dumplings among them, crayfish tails scattered, and the sauce poured over rather than stirred through.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Germany · All recipes