Beefy Soup with Bread Dumplings

Even though it is May, it is 43 degrees here with heavy rain. Just the kind of night to curl up with a comforting bowl of broth, veggies and dumplings. Don't fear the dumplings--they will come out just fine for you, I know it. You can make the same type of thing vegetarian by swapping out the beef broth for good, hearty vegetable stock.  

Ingredients:

Soup:

2 teaspoons olive oil
½ cup onion, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
6-8 cups beef stock, depending on how much soup you want (I’m using home made, but store bought will do)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup torn baby spinach leaves

Dumplings: (about 8 egg sized dumplings)
4 cups torn pieces of stale bread (like an old baguette or white bread)
1 cup milk
2 eggs
½ to 1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of onion salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 cup plain, dry bread crumbs (as much as needed-see directions)

Directions:

In a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and add the onions and mushrooms. Cook and stir over medium heat until the veggies are soft, but not browned. Add the stock and let it simmer for 30 minutes or so. Taste for seasonings and adjust the seasonings.

Start the dumplings by placing the bread in a mixing bowl. Heat the milk in a microwaveable bowl for about 2 minutes on medium power until you just see steam coming from it, but it is not boiling. Pour the milk over the bread, stir it to ensure that all the bread is coated and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then squeeze the bread in your very clean hands to remove any excess milk. Discard the excess milk and put the bread back in the bowl (or use another bowl-up to you). Mix in the eggs, salt, onion salt, nutmeg and fresh parsley and as much of the dry bread crumbs as you need to get a slightly stiff, yet fairly sticky dough (I needed about ½ cup).  Roll into palm sized balls-the dumplings should hold together. If they are too wet, you can add some more plain bread crumbs. Put the dumplings on a plate until the soup is ready.

Bring the soup up so that it is hot, but not boiling (your dumplings will fall apart if it is boiling). Add the spinach to the soup and then carefully drop the dumplings in. Cover and simmer, leaving the lid on the Dutch oven slightly cracked, for 20-25 minutes. Take out one dumpling to check it for doneness. If it is still gooey in the middle, return the dumpling to the pot and cook for another 10 or so minutes.

[NOTE: if you are worried about your dumplings, do one ‘test dumpling’ first to see if it falls apart. If it does, put all the dumplings back in a bowl, add more bread crumbs and reform your dumplings. Also, turn down the heat on the soup.]