2354. SPECKKNODEL (BACON DUMPLINGS with WHITE CABBAGE)

serves four


500 grams floury potatoes, peeled
150 grams flour
1 small egg
salt
200 grams bacon
2 eggs
200 grams crème fraîche
2 tablespoons corn starch
nutmeg

For the cabbage salad:
1 large white cabbage
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
200 grams lean bacon, cut in tiny cubes
100 ml white wine or apple cider vinegar

For the dumplings, cook the potatoes (without peeling or cutting them) until tender. Peel and mash with a fork or potato ricer (don't be tempted to use an electric whisk, or you'll end up with a glue-like mass that is impossible to work). When the potatoes have cooled down just enough to be able to handle them with your bare hands, add the egg and flour, season with salt and knead into a smooth dough.

Divide the mixture into 12 equal portions, flatten them in your hands and put a ball of bacon bits in the middle. Roll the dumplings with floury hands, making sure that the bacon is well enveloped and the dough closes tightly around them. Sit the dumplings in a greased, oven-proof dish and bake in the oven for ca. 25 minutes at 200 C.

Whisk the eggs, crème fraîche and corn starch together, season with salt and nutmeg and pour over the dumplings. Continue to cook until the egg mixture has set.

While the dumplings are baking, cut the cabbage into thin strips (no more than 5 mm) and cook in salted water with the caraway seeds until tender. Drain and return to the pot. Cut the bacon into 1 cm dice and fry in a shallow pan until nicely brown. When the bacon bits are done, add them and the fat they released to the cabbage. Return the pan to the stove and add the vinegar, heat it up and add to the cabbage. Mix through and keep warm until serving.


bacon recipe courtesy of: Johanna Wagner, thepassionatecook, London, UK, August 22, 2004