Gnocchi and Dumplings
Dumplings are a served as a main dish, side dish, soup or sweet as a dessert and are an essential part especially of the East German, South German, Austrian and Bohemian cuisine and the cuisine of South Tyrol. Dumplings are usually made from a dough. Depending on the recipe very different mixtures are generally formed into balls and then poached or steamed in salt water. Dumplings can be plain, but sometimes there are filled with toasted pieces of bread, fruits, meat or other ingredients. In Italy, a smaller version of dumplings known as gnocchi is very popular. The gnocchi is an ancient food, prepared with different flours: wheat flour, rice, semolina, with potatoes, corn flour, dry bread, tubers or various vegetables.
Dumplings and Gnoochis come in many varieties and preparations made from different essential ingredients serving as a base for the dough:
1. Potatoes: Raw potatoes are rubbed with a potato grater, squeezed or juice with a centrifuge to remove the liquid. The resulting lump mass moldable and formed into dumplings. These dumplings must cook for about 20 minutes in lightly simmering salted water. In some recipes made from a mixture of raw and boiled potatoes. Dumplings can be made from fully cooed potatoes. They usually are cooked the day before and then grated, mixed with some flour and salt, sometimes egg to form a solid dough. The formed dumplings are cooked in hot salted water until they rise to the surface. Dough made from mostly cooked potatoes can also be used to make sweet desserts such as poppy seeds, plum, and apricot dumplings.
Savory meat containing variation are dumplings that consist of a potato dough under which buckwheat flour and finely diced bacon, eggs and milk are lifted.
Gnocchi di patate are small dumplings made of boiled potatoes and flour and, sometimes an egg or even grated Parmesan is added. Depending on the recipe, the still hot potatoes are crushed and kneaded with the remaining ingredients and formed into rolls of 15 to 20 mm in diameter, which are then sliced. Traditionally, these are pressed with a fork to a floured flat surface to make a grooved surface.
2. Bread: Bread dumplings are a specialty of South Germany, Austrian and Bohemian cuisine served with meat, lentil or mushroom dishes with a creamy sauce. There are many recipes, but they follow the following guideline: These are prepared from stale a few days old but not too dry rolls that are cut into thin slices or cubes and soaked in hot milk. The mixture is finely chopped onion, parsley, eggs and other ingredients to form a dough. The dumplings are cooked for about 20 minutes in hot, simmering salted water and are ready when they rise to the water surface.
There are variations of these dumplings with diced bacon and other ingredients that were added to the dough.
Matzah balls are a Jews favorite food. Matze flour is made from crushed matzo which is an unleavened bread eaten during the week-long Passover.
Matzo dumplings are made from matzo flour, eggs, water, salt and some fat. The elongated dumplings are cooked in hot broth for 15 to 30 minutes.
3. Semolina: Dumplings are made from semolina, milk, eggs, and butter. They are served as a filling soup or baked. Sweetened semolina dumplings are known as dessert. Milk is first boiled with salt, and then the semolina is stirred into the no longer boiling liquid. Depending on use, the resulting dough is seasoned with butter, salt, nutmeg, lemon peel or sugar and mixed until smooth. Besides eggs or only the yolk are added as a binder. With a spoon, small dumplings are formed that are cooked in salted water or a broth until they rise to the surface.
4. Flour: steamed dumplings, a pastry that in the Austrian and Bavarian cuisine is very common. These are made from yeast dough with milk, flour, yeast, salt, a little sugar and fat (z. B. Butter ) sometimes eggs. The can be cooked in salt water but usually are steamed in one pot with lid and damped. These are very similar to the steamed dumplings found in the Chinese cuisine. In both the European and Chinese cuisine these Dumplings will be eaten savory or sweet and can be filled with various ingredients.
5. Meat: These dumplings are usually made similar to a meatloaf dough from ground meat, and other ingredients and cooked in broth. Famous are Leberkoedel. These are dumplings made from ground liver and a batter made of bread soaked in milk and seasoned with nutmeg or other spices, boiled in beef stock and served as a bowl of soup. Marrow balls are small dumplings made from white bread and bone marrow from beef or veal.
Gnocchi and Dumplings
Potato Gnocchis and Dumplings
