Spinach bread dumplings with brown butter (spinatknödel)
Soft, savory Alpine dumplings made from bread, spinach and parmesan, gently simmered and drowned in nutty brown butter.
- 70 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $2.07 a serving
- 600 calories
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Most of the time here is hands-off, so you can sit down while it cooks.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 French bread, a day old, about 8 oz
- 1 cup milk, warm
- ⅓ cup butter, divided
- ½ yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry and chopped
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup grated parmesan, divided
From your pantry
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 600 calories, 25 g protein, 68 g carbs and 26 g fat, and costs about $2.07 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No French bread? Sourdough bread works.
- No milk? Half-and-half works.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Cut the bread into ½-inch and put them in a large bowl. If the bread is soft, dry the cubes on a at 300°F for 10 minutes first.
Cube. Cubing means cutting food into chunky, even squares, usually three quarters of an inch to an inch. Same-size cubes cook at the same speed and brown on every side.
How you’ll know: Your pieces look like a handful of sugar cubes, a little bigger than diced, all close to the same size.
Sheet pan. A sheet pan is a flat metal baking tray with a low rim all the way around. The rim catches juices, and the wide surface lets food spread out and brown.
How you’ll know: Everything fits in one layer with a little space between the pieces.
Dolly’s tip: Dry, stale bread soaks up the milk without turning to mush, which is why this recipe loves leftovers.Pour the warm milk over the bread and . 1 tablespoon butter in a small over medium heat and cook the onion and garlic until soft, 4 minutes.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min
Add the onion, spinach, eggs, ½ cup parmesan, the flour, 1 teaspoon salt and the pepper to the bread. Mix with your hands, squeezing, then let it sit 15 minutes.
Timer: 15 min
Bring a large pot of water with 1 teaspoon salt to a gentle over medium heat.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heat
Dolly’s tip: Keep it at a lazy simmer, not a rolling boil, or the dumplings break apart.With wet hands, squeeze the mixture into 8 firm balls about the size of a tennis ball.
Dolly’s tip: If they won’t hold together, mix in another tablespoon of flour.Lower the dumplings into the water and until firm and cooked through, 15 minutes. Lift them out with a slotted spoon.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heatTimer: 15 min
Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
Meanwhile, the remaining 4 tablespoons butter in a over medium heat and keep cooking, swirling, until it smells nutty and turns , 3 to 4 minutes.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min
Dolly’s tip: Watch for brown specks and a toasty smell, then pull it off the heat. A few seconds more and it burns.Serve two dumplings each with the brown butter spooned over and the rest of the parmesan on top.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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