Semmel Knödel recipe (Bread dumpling)

One of my dear readers, who follows my blog religiously, wrote me an e-mail the other day.  He explained he really enjoyed the cultural lessons but where were the recipes? 
Yes, I know I have been long on the culture and short on the culinary adventures, but I will remedy that today.

I am going to teach you how to make Semmel Knödel.

These dumplings are very easy to make. You just need rolls of any kind that are going stale. I hate to waste anything, so I used my stale hotdog buns.

 First slice  up your buns; add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder and 1/2 cup breadcrumbs. (I prefer to use Progresso Italian style bread crumbs) pour 1 cup warm milk over these ingredients.  Let set 8 to 10 minutes, covered.

Now mix in 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons fresh parsley and a pinch of nutmeg.

Mix your ingredients well by hand until the consistency is something like this.

Make a test dumpling. If it is too loose, add some bread crumbs; if it is too hard, add a little more milk.

                                     Place them in boiling salt water (enough to cover the dumplings)

               Simmer the dumplings in salt water with lid half off for about 10-12 minutes. The dumplings will rise to the top. They must not be stuck to the bottom.

Remove them with a slotted spoon.

You can serve them with pork roast, beef, venison or wild boar (which we can get over here)

instead of potato.  Use whatever gravy you make to serve over your meat for the dumplings.

You could also serve it as a vegetarian meal with a white dill sauce

pictured here.

I did show an American friend how to make these once. 

Her remark, "You know, if you didn't have stale bread, you could use a packaged stuffing mix instead." 

She went home and substituted the mix, but followed the rest of my recipe. She claimed they were almost as good as mine.

Mac gives Semmel Knödels a thumbs up!

If you are crazy for "stuffing" like I am, you'll love these.