Canederli are bread dumplings only found in the north-east of Italy (Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli, and part of Veneto), where they are served as a first course or as a main entree. Variations of this dish are common in all south-Eastern Europe. Canederli can be considered part of ‘cucina povera’ as they are made of simple and inexpensive ingredients: stale bread moistened with mulch enriched with cheese and Speck (a kind of smoked prosciutto also typical of the north-east regions). Originally they were made with the leftover of the chit hen: different kind of salumi, cheese and so on. There are several variations of this regional dish, the following recipe describe how to prepare the Canederli with vegetable. We prepared with yellow beets.
Ingredients
Recipe for 6 persons
- 300 gr stale bread, diced ( which can be obtained by dicing 500 gr of fresh bread and laying it on a tray for 2 days, covered with a towel. Very important is that the bread is fully dried out and crunchy. alternatively you can buy ready-made bread for dumplings.
- 1 onion
- 1/2 glass white wine
- 250 gr milch
- 300 gr yellow beets
- 2 eggs
- 200 gr cheese type gouda mild
- 1 spoon gorgonzola
- 2 spoons grated parmigiano
- 3 spoons flour
- Salt, pepper
Seasoning
- Butter
- Parmigiano
- Some sage leaves
Preparation
- Put the stale bread into a large mixing bowl . Add the milk ,as well as salt and pepper
- Mix well and let it rest some minutes.
- Cut the onion and cook with 1/2 glass of water and 1/2 of white wine until tender (30/40 minutes) . Let it cool down
- Boiled the beets. Let them cool down , peel and reduce in a purée.
- cut the cheese into small cubes
- Add the beets’ purée and the onion into the bread and mix well with hands.
- add the cheeses and the eggs
- Place some flour in a plate;
- Using your hands form the canederli by pressing together enough of the mix to make balls the size of a small orange (60 to 80 grams each). You should be able produce 14-16 balls out of the entire mix.
- After making each ball, roll it in flour to seal the outside and prevent the canederli from sticking to each other .
- Have some water or vegetable stock in a large pot, well boiling on the stove.
- Place the canederli gently in the pot, wait until the boil is resumed .
- Boil the canederli for 12-15 minutes (they will be floating the whole time), then drain them gently.
- In a pan melt the butter with some sage leaves.
- Place 2/3 canederli in each plate, add some grated parmigiano and pour the melted butter.
- Buon appetito!
Tips
Instead of yellow beets you can use red beets, pumpkin or spinach.
It is possible to freeze the canederli before cooking. Place them on a tray and when they have hardened transfer them to a bag for freezing. In this case they will be thrown into the boiling water while still frozen.
