Hemmerle's Delicious Jewels

Fourth-generation German jewellery house Hemmerle are renowned for their intricate craftsmanship and their exacting yet unconventional sourcing of materials. But they've added a new chapter to their (impressive) CV – operating as pretty great chefs. Responsible for the production of wonderful pieces like a red pepper with a garnet stem and an aubergine with a skin of spinels, they have branched out (with the help of Tamasin Day-Lewis) to create a cookbook, Delicious Jewels, featuring some of their gem-encrusted vegetable pieces with accompanying recipes. Just in time for the bank holiday, we bring you instructions on how to stir-fry a savoy cabbage, illustrated with some of our all-time favourite jewellery.

Stir-Fried Savoy Cabbage with Speck and Grain Mustard
Serves 4–6 depending on size and the amount of other vegetables

Is this crinkly, veiny, dark and light green-leaved cabbage not one of the great wonders of the vegetable kingdom? Its squeaky, frilly, bubble-wrap texture is like a wrinkled face with veins and arteries running in every direction, some fine-lined, others like the deep-rilled tributaries of a river.

It needs either the quickest cooking in a hot-pan or the slowest in a simmering casserole, and there is really nothing porky, ducky, beefy or gamey this dish doesn’t work well with: a simple sausage or pork fillet, a slow-roast shoulder, a sirloin, a haunch of venison, or a crisp fatted duck.

A Savoy cabbage with the tough outer leaves removed; quartered, cored, sliced in very fine ribbons, the core similarly
A 2cm thick-cut piece of speck cut into tiny dice with its fat
2 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, peeled, whole
60g butter
1 heaped dstspn good grain mustard Sea salt and black pepper

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, throw in the ribbons of cabbage and blanch at a rolling boil for no more than a minute.
Decant into a colander in the sink and run very cold water over it to arrest the cooking process and to keep the cabbage green.

Drain thoroughly and then dry in a tea-towel.
Put a small frying pan on the heat and when hot add the diced speck, letting it cook fast to brown and crisp and release some of its fat.
Remove from the heat.
In a large heavy-bottomed pan warm the olive oil with the clove of garlic to flavour. Throw in the cabbage and half the butter and stir briskly for a couple of minutes.
Add the speck and its fat, the grain mustard and seasoning, stir for a minute more and remove to a warmed serving bowl without the garlic. It should still have crunch and bite.

The Hemmerle Delicious Jewels book can be purchased on hemmerle.com and at selected bookstores worldwide.