Butter Dumplings, a first course from Trentino cuisine, is a humble dish made with stale bread but tasty thanks to the speck cubes that add flavor and melted butter as a condiment. The speck dumplings are cooked in vegetable broth and then sautéed in a pan with good butter; I also add some onion for an even tastier seasoning. You can also prepare speck butter dumplings the day before so they absorb more flavor; you boil them and store them in the cooking broth until it’s time to season them. Now let’s see how to make butter dumplings, and if you try them, let me know. Barbara
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 18 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for preparing Butter Dumplings
- 12 oz stale bread
- 1 cup milk
- 3.5 oz speck (single slice)
- 0.5 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs
- 1.5 oz butter
- 1 oz onion
- 8 cups water
- 2 carrots
- 2 stalks celery
- Half onion
- 1.75 oz butter
- 1 oz onion
- to taste grated cheese
How to prepare Butter Dumplings
Let’s start preparing the speck butter dumplings. First, make the broth by pouring water, cleaned vegetables, carrots, celery, and onion into a pot, and boil for at least 30 minutes. Then, season with salt. Cut the bread into small pieces and place it in a large bowl, add the milk, trying to thoroughly soak the bread, and let it rest.
Finely chop 30 g of onion and place it in a pan with 40 g of butter. Sauté the onion over low heat and, if necessary, add a splash of water so the onion softens well. Occasionally stir the bread so it absorbs the milk well; the bread should soften thoroughly. Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat them with a fork, and cut the speck into small cubes.
Take the bread that will be soft and well-soaked in milk, work it with your hands to obtain a compact mixture. Add the beaten eggs, flour, a pinch of salt, speck cubes, and melted butter with onion, mix well, incorporate all the ingredients, and let rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.
After resting, take the dumpling dough and form dumplings weighing about 50 g each.
Prepare the seasoning by finely chopping 30 g of onion into very small pieces and place them in a large pan with 50 g of butter, flavor over low heat, stirring occasionally, being careful not to darken the onion.
Remove the vegetables from the vegetable broth, add the dumplings to the broth, and cook for 15 minutes. When they are cooked, remove them from the broth and place them in the pan with melted butter and onion, let them flavor, and serve the dumplings sprinkled with grated cheese or Fontina.
How to store Butter Dumplings
Keep them in the fridge for 2/3 days
