Semmelknödel

I love cultures who've created dishes based on leftovers.  I'm thinking of the Mexicans, whose chilaquiles bring stale tortilla chips blazing back to life; the Italians, whose breaded arancini are the best thing to do with day-old risotto, and - of course - the Germans.  Stale bread's not just for breadcrumbs any more.  Imagine, instead, turning croutons into meatballs and you'll have an inkling of where we're starting.

Sliced loaf-style bread is not hard to find in Accra - rather the opposite; you find "sweet bread" stacked high and paraded on vendors' heads in every traffic jam.  But we don't go for it, and nor should you for this recipe.  Rolls work, as does an artisan loaf or baguette.

In German, a Nudel and a Knoedel aren't always a piece of pasta.  In fact, all three of my upcoming German-food posts (Dampfnudeln, Schupfnudeln and these Semmelknoedel) are dumplings.

I made a mushroom-stock gravy for these, but it came out saltier than seawater.  I tried to reduce it to thicken it, when I should have kept the volume and added more thickening roux.  I'm posting an updated recipe and a disclaimer that I haven't tried it yet!

Semmelknoedel and Simple Mushroom Gravy

recipe adapted from Marions Kochbuch

prep time: 40 minutes
cook time: 20 minutes

makes 6 dumplings; serves 2

ingredients:

for the Semmelknoedel:
3 stale rolls (or 1/3 loaf of bread)
120 ml (1/2 cup) milk
2 tsp butter
1/2 white onion, diced
1 tbsp parsley, diced
1 egg
10 g (1 tbsp) flour
salt and pepper, to taste
nutmeg, to taste

for the mushroom gravy:
1 cube mushroom stock
500 ml (2 cups) water
4 tbsp butter or vegetable oil
4 tbsp flour

directions:

for the Knoedel
Cut the bread into thin slices or cubes and put in a bowl.  Heat the milk to boiling, then quickly remove from the heat.  Pour into the bowl of bread pieces and stir well.  Cover with a towel and leave to soak for 30 minutes.

Melt the butter in a pan.  Cook the onion 5 minutes, until translucent.  Add onion and parsley to the bread-milk mixture.  In a separate bowl, mix the egg with the flour.  Add to the bread mixture, mixing with your hands.  Mix in salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.  If the dough is too sticky, add more flour.

With moist hands, form the dough into balls.

Bring a pot of salted water to the boil.  Add the balls and bring the water back only to a low simmer.  Cook for about 20 minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon and serve immediately with mushroom gravy.

for the gravy
Boil the water.  Add the stock cube and mix well.  In a pan, melt the butter, add flour and stir until it just begins to brown.  Slowly add mushroom stock to the pan.  Make and add more roux if the gravy is still too thin.

Pour gravy over the dumplings and eat.  Serve with meat or other protein for a heartier meal.