Here we have the ultra-classic Semmelknödel from Bavaria. Great side dish for the upcoming stew dish season with a lot of sauce and also traditional for game dishes. My recipe is from the 1920s bavarian Alps by my grandmother. Fair to say the method at the end is modern, but it makes it much more easier for you. Regarding the traditional way which means to form balls you need experience.
The good thing with this modern recipe is that you can serve it immediately, but also hours later or the next day. Even put it in the freezer then serve it whenever you want.
The Semmelknödel slices taste great solo, but are also very helpful to absorb any kind of sauce. In addition a good method to use any old leftover white bread.
Ingredients
400-450g white bread or 6 buns (1-2-3-4 days old)
250ml hot milk
3 eggs
1 onion, cubed
1 bunch parsley, chopped
good knob of butter
optional: nutmeg
clingfilm&aluminium foil
big bowl
Preparation
Chopp the old white bread in little pieces.
Put in a big bowl
Add hot milk and let it rest 30min. Very important!
Sauté cubed onion softly in butter, until translucend, but not black
Add onion, parsley, salt&pepper and optional nutmeg to the bread after 30-45min.
Also 3 eggs and mix it together with a wood spoon or by hand.
Put a halve of the bread mix to a plastic clingfilm
Roll it and wrap it up. Now make the second one with the rest of the bread mix.
Now put into an aluminium foil and wrapp it up
Let it simmer in water 25min with a lid. After around 15min. turn the package around.
Serve it now in slices to your main dish incl. a lot of sauce
OR let it cool down for hrs. or overnight in fridge
Next day or hours later cut Semmelknödel in slices and sauté softly the slices in butter for 2-3min each side
Voilà…….
P.S.
you will find this Semmelknödel also in the Austrian and Bohemian cuisine. Sometimes in variations.
My wife has a family recipe that is similar to this that they call Bohemian dumplings. They would make a double batch in the fall, freezing half for later use. But this looks great and I will try it as it seems to be perfect for a stew.
Milk, eggs, onions, and seasoning. Unfortunately I didn’t have any fresh parsley so that bit of brightness and color was omitted. They were wrapped up tightly in cling wrap, and then in foil as the recipe notes.
Great recipe, Martin. Kid #1 particularly loved it, and a family member who lived in Heidelberg for a decade joined us for dinner, pleasantly surprised to have this style of fare in the Big Tomato. If one ever has a lot of dried out bread, or milk running close to expiry, this is a sensible solution for that.
Next time with parsley, as it gives additional flavor and dimension/layer to the „Semmelknödel“. And I am happy that Kid #1 loved it, kids are not easy to impress/convince regarding foreign food.
Our ‘Heidelberger’ family member joined us for supper so dumplings and caraway crusted pork were on deck. We had some bubbly to go with it. BTW, Instead of apple sauce to go with this, we had a commercial food service pear puree … which paired magnificently. I think that is more a French tradition than central European though.
