Cheese and ham cream sauce "Rübenberg style"

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 2 m.-large onion(s), yellow
• 100 g smoked bacon
• 2 slices of cooked ham, approx. 1 cm thick
• 4 large garlic cloves
• 4 tbsp olive oil, extra virgin, fruity, e.g. from the oil manufacturer Rilli
• 2 tsp, heaped spice mix (Aglio e olio), e.g. from Ankerkraut
• 200 ml cream
• 200 ml milk
• 500 ml vegetable stock
• 100 g herb cheese spread
• 150 g Gruyère (Le Gruyère AOP)
• Salt and pepper, coarsely ground, possibly fleur de sel
• 1 bunch parsley, fresh or frozen

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 40 minutes

for pasta dishes, e.g., tortellini

Cut the onions, bacon, and cooked ham into small cubes about 1 cm in size. I like to use handmade country-style cooked ham from my butcher, cut into slices about 1 cm thick. Place the ingredients in a large, uncoated casserole dish with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sear until crispy. Once the onions, bacon, and ham are fried, browned, and crispy, deglaze everything with a splash of vegetable stock, scrape up any browned meats from the bottom of the pot with a sturdy spatula, and sear briefly again. This is simply easier with an uncoated pot. Blend the garlic cloves with the remaining olive oil in a blender until you have a fine garlic oil. Add this to the pot along with the remaining vegetable stock and deglaze. Add the cream and half of the milk, the herb-flavored cheese, the finely chopped or grated Gruyère, and the seasoning mix, and bring to a boil. Once the cheese has melted and the sauce has become nice and creamy, add the freshly ground pepper and parsley, and season with salt or fleur de sel if necessary. Drain the cooked pasta briefly, add it to the saucepan, and stir it briefly into the sauce. In this example, I used fresh tortellini from the refrigerated counter. Give the pasta a few minutes to absorb the sauce. This will thicken the sauce even more; if necessary, you can thin it out again with pasta water or a little milk. I usually use up the leftover milk here, but I also add a little pasta water.