Category Archives: dumplings

Ricotta Dumplings with Spinach and Peas

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These pretty much came about because we had ricotta and spinach that needed to be used, but they were good enough that I want to save the recipe so I can make them again. As you can tell from the photo, I didn’t exactly get the shaping down, but nobody seemd to mind.

Serves 4

For the dumplings:
16 oz. whole milk ricotta
1 cup grated parmesan and/or pecorino
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup flour, plus more for dusting

For the rest:
4 TB butter
2 TB olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 oz. baby spinach
1 cup frozen peas
juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper

1. Mix the ricotta, cheeses, eggs, salt and pepper thoroughly in a large bowl. Add the flour and mix gently, just to combine (you don’t want to work it too hard, or you’ll end up with tough dumplings). Depending on how wet your ricotta is, you might need more flour, but it should be soft and sticky.

2. Flour a parchment-lined baking sheet. Spoon out a small spoonful of ricotta mixture, and shape gently into an ovoid (again, you want to avoid roughly handling it). The dumplings expand to almost twice their original size when you cook them, so keep that in mind. Keep making dumplings until you’ve used up all the ricotta mixture, placing them on the baking sheet. Dust them with some more flour and let rest for about 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat up a large pot of salted water for the dumplings.

4. In a sauté pan, heat up the butter and oil. Cook the onions until soft and golden, then add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, or until fragrant.

5. Add the spinach to the pan and cook until wilted, then add the peas, and cook until hot. Add the lemon juice, season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, stir, and turn off while you make the dumplings.

6. Drop the dumplings into gently boiling water one at a time (you may have to do more than one batch depending on how big your pot is). Cook until the dumplings float, then cook for 4-5 minutes more (I did a test one to check the time – you want it to be light and fluffy, not doughy).

7. Using a spider or slotted spoon, fish the dumplings out and add them to the pan with the spinach and peas. Turn the heat on to low, add the lemon zest and enough pasta water to make things saucy. Stir gently, heat through, and serve with more grated cheese if you like.

Vegetarian Chicken and Dumplings

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I love the recipe for Chicken and Dumplings in Patrick O’Connell’s Refined American Cuisine, but my daughter is a vegetarian, so I came up with an alternate version for her, which is basically potato stew. It’s really good, though, and very filling, and uses mostly pantry staples, so I thought I’d share. The dumpling dough recipe is O’Connell’s, but the rest is mine.

Serves 6

Dumpling Dough
3/4 cup milk
3 TB butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 TB baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup club soda

Potato Stew
3-4 large potatoes (boilers would be good, but all we had were Russets, and they were fine), diced
3/4 cup frozen peas
1 large onion, diced
3 carrots, diced
1 celery rib, diced
3/4 tsp each dried sage and thyme (or fresh, if you have them)
4 TB butter
4 TB flour
6 cups vegetable broth (it will go faster if you heat it up)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup-ish chopped fresh parsley, again, if you have it
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the milk and butter until the butter is melted. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

2. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Add the milk, butter, and club soda, and mix gently just until everything is incorporated.

3. Cover and let rest 30 minutes or so, while you get everything else ready.

4. Cover the potatoes with cold, salted water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until just cooked through. Toss in the frozen peas at the last minute just to thaw them. Drain and reserve.

5. Sauté the onion, carrots, and celery in the butter until soft and golden. Add the thyme, sage, and salt and pepper to taste.

6. Add the 4 TB flour to the pan and cook, stirring often, until light golden. Stir in the broth, a little at a time, until it’s all added. Bring to a boil and then simmer for five minutes.

7. Add the cream, parsley, peas and potatoes. Taste and season as necessary.

8. Bring back to a lively simmer, then drop the dumpling batter in small spoonfuls (it’s supposed to be teaspoons, but that takes forever) on top. Cover and simmer for ten minutes, or until dumplings are cooked all the way through. They should be light, not dense and claggy (that’s a technical term I learned from GBBO).

You want to use a wide pan to cook the stew and dumplings in, so that you can cram as many in as possible. Also, I said to dice the veggies, but if it’s easier to just chop them, go for it. Just keep in mind that the cooking times will change, depending on how large the pieces are.

Baked Filled Buns/Ju Bao

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So, it’s been a little while! The short version, for those of you not following me on social media, is that I injured my knee right before the holidays, and have been resting/recovering for the past two months. Oof! I’m only just back on my feet, and I’m still not up to doing a lot of cooking yet, by myself. Fortunately, my son volunteered to help me make these delicious buns from Asian Dumplings by Andrea Nguyen.

These are a pretty simple yeast dough, and you can make the filling ahead of time, so if you wanted to throw them together for a snack, or a weeknight dinner, that would be very doable. We ended up making two batches, one with a curried chicken filling, and one with a potato and cheese filling.

Makes 16 regular-size buns, or 32 mini-buns

Dough
10 TB whole milk
4 TB butter
2 tsp instant yeast
2 1/2 TB water
1 large egg
2 1/2 TB sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for forming the buns
(the recipe doesn’t call for it, but we added 1/2 tsp salt)

Filling
You’ll need about 1 1/3 cups of whatever filling you choose. If you’d like, I can do a follow-up with fillings, but you can go with just about anything, just make sure it’s fully cooked, and cooled.

For cooking the buns:
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 TB honey mixed with 1 TB warm water

1. Put the butter and the milk in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until the butter is melted. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.

2. Whisk the water and egg into the milk mixture.

3. Combine the sugar, flour, yeast, and salt in a food processor (or in a bowl if you want to do it by hand). Pulse a few times to mix, then slowly stream in the wet ingredients while running the processor (or, while stirring) until you have a smooth, slightly sticky dough.

4. Oil a clean bowl, and put the dough in it to rise, covered, for about 45 minutes.

5. After the dough has risen, divide it into 16 or 32 pieces, covering them up when you’re not working with them.

6. To fill the buns, roll each piece out into a circle, 3 1/4″ diameter for regular, 2 1/2″ for mini. Lightly flour as necessary to keep from sticking. Place 4, or 2 teaspoons of filling in the center of the round, gather up the edges and pinch them together, sealing the filing inside. Flip over, and round them off as needed. Place all the filled buns on parchment-lined baking sheets, cover, and let rise for 30 minutes.

7. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350° F. Right before baking, brush the buns with the egg. Bake for 18 minutes regular, 14 minutes mini, or until a rich, golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes.

8. Brush the honey mixture on the buns. Enjoy while warm, or refrigerate and reheat for snacks (or eat them cold from the fridge!).

Pierogi Ruskie

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Due to a combination of bad luck and stubbornness I ended up making pierogi in an un-air-conditioned kitchen in the middle of July. Fortunately, the whole family pitched in to help, and that’s basically my best advice for making dumplings (or dumpling-adjacent foods like ravioli or tamales): get a bunch of people to help. It turns what might be a difficult and daunting task into a party!

The recipe I used is from Polska: New Polish Cooking by Zuza Zak

Makes about 24 pierogi*

For the dough:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 egg yolks
2 TB unsalted butter
large pinch of salt
approx. 1/2 cup warm water

For the filling:
2 onions
1 TB salted butter
5 oz. twaróg**
1 potato, peeled, cooked, and diced
salt and pepper

1. Make the dough by combining all the ingredients, using only enough water to bring the mixture together. Knead until smooth, cover, and let rest for 20 minutes.

2. Chop the onions finely, and fry them in butter. Combine half of the onions, cheese, and potato for the filling. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Roll the dough as thinly as possible on a lightly floured surface. There are a few ways to make pierogi, but what we did was to cut out rounds, fill them, fold them in half, and crimp with a fork. If you need to, you can use some water to seal the edges.

4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Gently lower the pierogi into the water, cooking in two batches. As soon as they start to float up to the top, cook them for 2-3 minutes more. Remove them with a slotted spoon to the pan with the onions.

5. Fry the pierogi for a minute or two, then serve.

*The recipe actually says ‘serves 2’, but unless those are two very hungry people, I think you can get away with more.

**The recipe recommends ricotta as a substitute, but any fresh or farmer’s cheese should be good. I used quark, which is kind of the same idea as twaróg as far as I can tell.