February 8th
2006
You can never deny your roots and in this particular case it’s a good thing. Oliver’s family has a distinctive love for all kinds of sweet desserts, to be more specific: in his family his Dad has always been and still is in charge as well as the driving force of preparing the most wonderful sweet treats one can imagine: waffles, crepes, puddings (rice and especially semolina puddings) – in no particular order. All very good reasons for me to look forward to every visit… besides the two being wonderful people ;) I guess this, to an extent refutes the often heard prejudice about men & real food, ie. men and meat being inextricably linked. Which pretty much is true for my own family. I could certainly try and prepare one of the above mentioned sweet dishes for my grandpa, with only the best intentions in mind, but I’d likely be kicked out, denied any family relations and expelled from the inner circle (just had a Meet the Fockers visual).
So -lucky me- Oliver inherited his Dad’s love for all things sweet and besides his omni present sweet tooth, he’s also got the right touch on picking yummy recipes, such as this one: nougat filled semolina dumplings, tossed in buttered cinnamon bread- or better yet brioche-crumbs. It’s a recipe from a new book I recently got at a local bookstore portraying traditional sweet recipes in a new, modern light.
The dumplings by nature look a bit messy, but texture and taste are worth raving about. The sweet grapes were a wonderful addition, lightly sautéed in butter – and schnapps if desired – their flavor turned out to be a great complement. With all the sweet and yummy recipes we’ve indulged ourselves in lately, we’ve just made a belated new years resolution: a more frequent running schedule. As soon as the weather permits. Which is pretty unlikely to happen any time soon…phew.
For the dough, add milk, butter, salt, vanilla seeds (+shell) and lemon zest to a small pot and bring to the boil. Remove vanilla shell and stir in the semolina, remove from heat. Continue to stir for 1-2 minutes, then allow to cool. The mix is likely to become firmer than expected but that’s ok.
Combine the egg with the lukewarm semolina and the white breadcrumbs. Chill the dough for several hours. Form eight nougat balls and chill as well.
Divide up the dough into 8 equal portions, squeeze nougat into the center of each piece and begin forming dumplings. Once they look good, let them simmer gently for about 5-7 minutes in hot, lightly salted water.
There are different ways to prepare the buttered breadcrumbs, the method I use deviates from the book in that it’s quicker: Heat up butter, breadcrumbs, ground almonds, sugar and cinnamon in a flat pan until golden brown. Then set aside.
Remove dumplings from the hot water, drain and toss in still hot buttered breadcrumbs. Add another side of your choice, we used sweet, seedless green grapes (slightly sautéed in butter with a shot of fruit schnapps), but really any fruit is fine as long as it’s not too tangy.
Nougat-Semolina Dumplings
Recipe source: Götterspeisen (Marion Michels, Dave Brüllmann), p.33
Prep time: 15min., chilling:2-3h, cooking: 5-7min.
.
Ingredients for dumplings(serves 3-4):
80ml milk
20g butter
30g wheat semolina
1 egg
90g white brioche crumbs
1 pinch of salt
zest of half a lemon
1/2 vanilla bean (& scraped out seeds)
.
Ingredients for filling:
60g almond nougat
.
Ingredients for buttered brioche crumbs (topping):
70g brioche crumbs
60g ground almonds
30g sugar
60g butter
1 pinch of cinnamon
.
Additional sides:
Sweet, seedless green grapes or sweet plums, briefly sautéed in butter with a generous shot of fruit brandy or fruit schnapps
Ich sterbe für Quarkknödel und Zwetschenknödel, aber mit Grieß und Nougat, oh wie lecker! Sieht auch zum Anbeißen aus!
They delicious! of course ;)
But I don't think you mean almond nougat ? more like almond ganache?
this looks great! now that I have sense of smell and appetite back...your chicken soup would've been great the past few days...
Nicky, if you'll believe it, I've never had a true dumpling, semolina or otherwise. Isn't that sad? America needs more dishes involving simmered dough! Looks as though I'll have to start a movement myself, with a batch of your nougat-semolina beauties...
Lovely, as always!
This looks and sounds like a real treat! Delicious!
Paz
oh wow. those look really delish! i have never has such a thing - but let me ask you this... do the dumplings turn out with the texture of lumps in Cream of Wheat hot cereal? Because I am always trying to figure out how to get my Cream of Wheat as lumpy as possible because I LOVE those chewy lumps! I will have to try these dumplings!
This is probably one of the more unique recipes I have seen in a while. As someone else alluded to, here in North America we aren't really exposed to anything like this. I can't even imagine what it tastes like....but I think it must taste great! Thanks for sharing.
Nougat-semolina dumplings... It sounds a bit strange, but at the same time very delicious! It is a bit sad, though, that the necessity of chilling the dought extends the prep time. But, then again, it looks like it is worth it :)
I'm also unsure you mean almond nougat.. (at least what I know as being almond nougat) Just doesn't look like it from the pictures. Mmm, I will have to try making this sometime soon!
Hi ilva, if you do try them, let me know about the outcome, I'm keen to see how people perceive/like them outside of Germany. Dumplings in general I'd think of a German thing, these here more a bavarian/austrian dish.
Kat & Satoshi, Glad you're feeling better!! Now off to more food adventures...(PS: those artificial apples do look surprisingly real!)
clare eats, Embla, I guess without realizing I used a literal translation of what can be bought locally here as "Almond or Nut-Nougat", but you're right it's closer to milk chocolate ganache, which in fact should work as a substitute equally well. Just make sure whatever ends up in the dumpling is of firmer consistency, otherwise it'll be a nightmare to form the dumpling (so if you are using chocolate/nougat ganache, make sure it is chilled and firm). Thanks for pointing it out!
Easily Pleased, There is a good Wikipedia-like link for additional background info on semolina/Wheat of Cream (German: Weichweizen). Those lumps you'll usually get when you add too much semolina and don't consistently stir during the cooking process.
Hi Molly, You're right, during my stay in the US (visiting O.), I never had semolina anything. On the contrary I once had an encounter with yucky grits, which on a first glance I believed to be my known (wheat) semolina pudding. Let me know, once you get started with the dumpling movement...I can supply testimonies, fliers and freebies ;)
Like Molly above mentioned, dumplings aren't very common in the USA. But I was lucky to try some sweet dumpling near Chiemsee on a holiday trip and they were fantastic! I'll have to give your recipe a try.
Hi Nicky, those look fantastic and so unusual, but perhaps that is just because of my lack of experience with dumplings. I'd love to give them a try but then again I think I would be happy enough with just the buttered brioche crumbs! ;)
Wow!
At first it was just the pictures that made me hungry, but reading the recipe has won me over: Tomorrow is dumpling day at my place!
Great blog, great pictures!
I'm not a huge desert person, but this looks amazing! Thank you for sharing it with us (and of course your beautiful pictures)!
Mamma mia!
What little sweet things ... they look like they would be the greatest pleasure to eat. Lovely photo and thank you for the recipe, Nicky!
Those look so good! And I love things with sweet surprises at their center :) I have never cooked with semolina...I must hunt some down here and try it out...especially if it makes goodies as lovely as your dumplings :)
I know sweet dumplings alright, but never had them stuffed with anything but jam! Your versions sounds much more equisite!
Ui, die sehen ja unverschämt lecker aus !
This looks like a delightful variation to the traditional carnival treats down here in Italy! I will have to try this instead of the usual deep-fried sweets!