Long-German-word dinner (Kaspressknödelsuppe)

This post comes with multiple apologies, including one for the delay despite best nudges on Twitter, one for the fact that it is essentially just a translation (if you speak German, including bewildering Austrian words for food items, we followed this recipe: https://www.bergwelten.com/a/kaspressknoedel-vom-hoellensteinhaus) and one for the fact that I took no photos while we were cooking because I wasn’t expecting to post this.

Anyway. In July 2016(!!) Wilson (of Yoghurt World Cup twitter fame) and I went to Austria for some epic hiking. That hut might in fact be where we ate Kaspressknödelsuppe for the first time, and we've been thinking about it ever since. The component parts of this lengthy word are: Kas = cheese (in dialect), Press = press, Knödel = dumpling and Suppe = soup. It is carby, cheesy goodness in warming broth. Perfect for winter or July or any time at all.

Ingredients (it says for 4 people and that is pretty much accurate, we ate plenty between us for dinner and had enough left for a meal each):

1 l clear beef soup/broth (I put Wilson in charge of this, his instructions are below)

4 dry bread rolls – we used a 3-day old baguette; the key is having something that has a crust, so not just sliced white.

2 eggs

250 ml milk

200g “mountain cheese” (we used a mix of gruyère and comté)

2 boiled peeled potatoes, can be a day old

1 onion

3 tbsp oil

1 bunch parsley (on the continent this means curly parsley)

salt and pepper

Start by making the soup in advance. I quote:

Chop onions, carrots and leek. Sweat off. Add beef stock, sage, thyme and parsley. Simmer on a low heat for as long as you can. Pass through sieve (or don’t).

We pause briefly for a totally gratuitous mountain appreciation photo.

Now for the dumplings:

Cut the rolls/bread into small cubes and put them in a bowl. Whisk milk and eggs together, pour over the bread and put aside for 20 mins.

Now you can return to watching IPL (I did say it took me a while to write this up.)

Peel and finely chop the onion. Heat a bit of oil in a frying pan, fry onion until light golden, then take off the heat.

Grate the boiled potatoes. Never cease to be surprised by the fact that Austrians call them “Erdäpfel” (analogous to pommes de terre). Wash and chop parsley. Put some aside for garnish (this is obviously prettier if you don’t chop it so I didn’t). Cut cheese into small cubes. Try not to eat any of the cheese, fail (obviously).

Add onion, cheese, potato and parsley to the bread mix and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. 

Slightly wet your hands, then form round or flat shapes. This is easier said than done. We made sort of patties. Heat sufficient oil in a frying pan and fry the Kaspressknödel until they are golden all over.

Absolutely put them on some kitchen roll to drain because they will be oozing fat. 

Reheat the soup if it isn’t already. Ladle it into bowls (do not try to strain it through a sieve into a small bowl, it doesn’t work and soup will "probably" go everywhere in this totally hypothetical scenario) and add 1-2 dumplings, scatter with parsley and serve. (It’s nice to put one in the soup and one on the side so you get both textures.)

Wine suggestion: 2016 Spätburgunder. It was delicious.