canederli

South Tyrolean dumplings made with speck, bread, chives and parsley

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Canederli - South Tyrolean dumplings

Serve: 9 canederli

Ingredients

• 100g white stale bun (about 1 piece)

• 100g whole milk

• 1 egg

• 10g plain flour (1 tablespoon) + some for coating

• 15g unsalted butter

• 100g speck

• 70g white onion (half)

• 15g fresh parsley

• 10g chives + for serving

• sea salt

• black pepper

Extra note

• I recommend serving canederli in a warm, savoury meaty broth (here is a recipe). Make sure to prepare the broth a day ahead, as it requires some time to cook. Let it rest in the fridge overnight so the flavours can fully develop

• If you don’t feel like making a broth, another delicious option is to melt some butter, sauté sage in the fat for a few minutes, and then drizzle the fragrant sauce over cooked canederli

• Speck is a dry-cured, smoked ham from South Tyrol. If it’s difficult to find it, you can substitute it with prosciutto crudo

• The recipe is perfect for using up leftover stale bread. I suggest avoiding fresh bread, as it can make the canederli denser once cooked

Method

Dice the speck into small cubes and brunoise half of a white onion.

Melt the butter over medium heat. Once it begins to bubble, add the chopped speck and half an onion. Sauté for about 5 to 10 minutes, until the onion is soft and the speck is cooked as shown below.

Cut the stale bun into small pieces, around 1 cm in size, and place them in a bowl. Pour in 100 ml of milk, stir the cuts and let them soak. The bread should be moist, but not very watery. Depending on how stale or fresh your bread is, you may need to adjust the amount of liquid. If it seems too dry, feel free to add a little more milk.

Thinly chop fresh parsley and chives. And whisk one egg.

Put all ingredients in a bowl: cooked speck and onion, pre-soaked bread, whisked egg, herbs and plain flour. Season with salt and black pepper.

Mix the ingredients until fully incorporated with your hands.

Set up your dredging station with a bowl of water, another container filled with flour, and a tray lightly dusted with flour for placing the finished canederli.

Moisten your hands and shape the mixture into nine golf ball-sized portions. Roll each ball in flour until evenly coated.

Double-coat the canederli to form a protective layer around the dumplings, then let them rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Bring a pot of water to a boil, then add salt. Once bubbling, gently drop in the canederli, turn the heat to medium and let them cook for about 15 minutes.

Serve the dumplings in a rich, meaty broth or drizzle them with melted butter and fresh sage sauce.