Grandma's baguette-dumplings
In German, please ...
Visiting Fort Wayne back in November last year, I was talking to Barbara about how my grandma teaches me cooking and baking: A little bit of this and a cup or two of that until it looks right . And then she told me about her grandma who emigrated to the USA a long time ago. with her German grammar-based English (when she gave me examples it made perfect sense to me) she also taught her to cook and bake so that it looks right.
Is this a German-Grandma-thing or do experienced home-cooking chefs do it like this all over the world?
My flatmate had leftover baguette of a dinner party he gave. It was sitting on the shelves in our kitchen for almost a week, completely dried out in the meantime. The best solution we could think of was, to call Granny and ask her how she made these wonderful bread-/roll-dumplings for Christmas' Dinner.
Well, you take a little bit of this and a little bit of that,... just that it looks right. Do not forget to add a slightly browned chopped onion and fresh parsley.
A miracle that everything came together perfectly and just an hour later we've enjoyed a large bowl of wonderful homemade "dumplings".
(It's hard to translate "Weckknoedel" properly. But just have a look at the picture and you might get an idea what I'm talking about. Yes, it's a traditional German side-dish and, believe me, so good.)
Granny's "Weckknoedel"
(approx. 15 dumplings)
8 baguette rolls baked a day ahead or one large baguette
1 onion
1/8 - 1/4 cup butter
salt, pepper, fresh nutmeg
2-3 cups lukewarm milk
fresh parsley
3 eggs
all purpose flour or breadcrumbs
salted boiling water
1. cut the rolls into 1 square inch big pieces. Put them in a large bowl and add the mild. Let sit for a while until the rolls soaked all the milk. Do not add too much milk so that they are not too squishy. (Start with little milk and add some if necessary).
2. Peel and chop the onion. Stirfry (using the butter) in a heavy based saucepan until they turn slightly golden and translucent. Wash and chop the parsley, set aside.
3. Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add salt. (If you do not add enough salt the dumplings will taste boring.
4. To the soaked bread add 3 eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg and the chopped parsley. Kead to a more or less homogeneous dough. If the dough is too soft add flour and/or breadcrumbs to thicken it.
5. Form balls (between a table tennis and a tennis ball size) using your hands and carefully put them in the boiling water.After a couple of second they will swim on the surface. Boil for a few minutes and enjoy.
TIP: How to figure out if the dough has the right thickness? It should be easy to form the balls which will keep their shape after you formed them. The dough should not stick too much to your fingers. Try to boil one "Knoedel" on it's own first - if it falls apart add more breadcrumbs. If the dough does not even stick together, add more milk.
This is my flatmate. And if Christoph wasn't hiding under the table there would be no need to have this picture here :-)
Visiting Fort Wayne back in November last year, I was talking to Barbara about how my grandma teaches me cooking and baking: A little bit of this and a cup or two of that until it looks right . And then she told me about her grandma who emigrated to the USA a long time ago. with her German grammar-based English (when she gave me examples it made perfect sense to me) she also taught her to cook and bake so that it looks right.
Is this a German-Grandma-thing or do experienced home-cooking chefs do it like this all over the world?
My flatmate had leftover baguette of a dinner party he gave. It was sitting on the shelves in our kitchen for almost a week, completely dried out in the meantime. The best solution we could think of was, to call Granny and ask her how she made these wonderful bread-/roll-dumplings for Christmas' Dinner.
Well, you take a little bit of this and a little bit of that,... just that it looks right. Do not forget to add a slightly browned chopped onion and fresh parsley.
A miracle that everything came together perfectly and just an hour later we've enjoyed a large bowl of wonderful homemade "dumplings".
(It's hard to translate "Weckknoedel" properly. But just have a look at the picture and you might get an idea what I'm talking about. Yes, it's a traditional German side-dish and, believe me, so good.)
Granny's "Weckknoedel"
(approx. 15 dumplings)
8 baguette rolls baked a day ahead or one large baguette
1 onion
1/8 - 1/4 cup butter
salt, pepper, fresh nutmeg
2-3 cups lukewarm milk
fresh parsley
3 eggs
all purpose flour or breadcrumbs
salted boiling water
1. cut the rolls into 1 square inch big pieces. Put them in a large bowl and add the mild. Let sit for a while until the rolls soaked all the milk. Do not add too much milk so that they are not too squishy. (Start with little milk and add some if necessary).
2. Peel and chop the onion. Stirfry (using the butter) in a heavy based saucepan until they turn slightly golden and translucent. Wash and chop the parsley, set aside.
3. Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add salt. (If you do not add enough salt the dumplings will taste boring.
4. To the soaked bread add 3 eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg and the chopped parsley. Kead to a more or less homogeneous dough. If the dough is too soft add flour and/or breadcrumbs to thicken it.
5. Form balls (between a table tennis and a tennis ball size) using your hands and carefully put them in the boiling water.After a couple of second they will swim on the surface. Boil for a few minutes and enjoy.
TIP: How to figure out if the dough has the right thickness? It should be easy to form the balls which will keep their shape after you formed them. The dough should not stick too much to your fingers. Try to boil one "Knoedel" on it's own first - if it falls apart add more breadcrumbs. If the dough does not even stick together, add more milk.
This is my flatmate. And if Christoph wasn't hiding under the table there would be no need to have this picture here :-)
epsilon - 31. Jan, 12:33
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