Cooking Cheap

Here’s the recipe I started from. Except I’m doubling it and I have no idea what I’m doing. I think it’s a little too wet.

The reason I’m doubling it is that I defrosted more bread than called for and I added a little more milk than called for and I’ll probably end up adding a little more flour than called for. I’m also going to make them a little smaller than called for. I’m guessing the original recipe make 12 golf ball size dumplings. I want gnocci size. This is a big production and takes a lot of time and in my case a bit of thinking and planning.

The dumplings swell during cooking so they aren’t gnocchi sized after all. They are pretty damn good, too. When in doubt, cook them longer than you might think, I experimented with 6 minutes and 10 minutes. Heat management on the pot is important. You want to poach them, the water just barely bubbling.

The brown spots on the dumplings are just some bread crust that I didn’t trim off. The “dough” could have used a bit more flour, a tablespoon or two more. The cream sauce iand the pork chop recipe follows. I chilled (froze) the left overs (easily three meals worth) and then bagged them for long term freezer storage. It’s going to be fun coming up with sauces and gravies for them.

Pork Chop and Mustard Onion Gravy
1 bone in pork chop, 1/2 lb.
Half a small onion diced fine
2 tsp “Spicy” Mustard
1 Tbl Olive oil
2 Tbl Flour
1/4 C beef stock (bullion)
1/4 C Half and Half
1/4 C Whole Milk
Dash of nutmeg
Salt and Pepper.
Lemon and Parsely to finish.

Brown both sides of the pork chop in the olive oil on medium heat (a minute or 2 per side) Remove chop to a plate and lower heat to low or med-low. Add onion and saute until translucent. Add flour and cook to a light roux. The amount of oil and flour depends on how much gravy you want. The amounts above are just my guess at what I did. Spread mustard on each side of the pork chop. Slowly add the stock to the roux, whisking constantly. Slowly add half and half and then milk ( and whisking) until a gravy has formed. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg. Return pork chop to the pan and simmer until pork chop is done (10 minutes?), adding milk and adjusting temperature as needed for a slow simmer.

[Cook's Notes]
It’s a white sauce or milk gravy, no big deal. The mustard didn’t contribute much, one could use more. Some thyme might be good. A dash or two of hot pepper sauce or cayenne pepper would be a worthy addition. One could fry up some finely chopped mushrooms with the onions.

The dumplings are a little ugly because I think the dough was a little too wet. There is a pleasant flavor from the sourdough bread that comes through. These are closer to gnocchi than powder milk dumplings. I froze the extra dumplings on a sheet pan and then wrapped serving size amounts in plastic wrap and put them back in the freezer.

[Days Later]
The dumplings out of the freezer are really very tasty. I let them defrost for a few hours, hit them with the microwave for a few seconds and cover them with some kind of gravy. A very good way to turn my home made bread mistakes into a starch side dish.