Dumplings!

I am a big fan of many things German and Austrian. I think I may have mentioned this before in my ramblings through the Wood. I am trying to learn German, I have travelled through Germany and Austria and I've spent ten years of my life researching and teaching German history. I also love German and Austrian food, and I've collected a number of cookbooks on this very topic. But. But. But. Cooking German and Austrian food scares me. It looks complicated. It looks hard. It's got things like yeast in it which you have to heat and knead and cajole into doing the right thing by you. So imagine my surprise and delight when I successfully made Austrian-style dumplings on the weekend. And they were easy. Equipped with my Specialities of Austrian Cooking cookbook, I figured I'd just give it a go...no harm in trying...I can just throw them out when they don't work...and then they worked!

500g flour
40g melted butter
300 ml milk
1 egg

Mix it all together. Make little dumpling balls. Drop them into boiling water and when they bob to the surface, you're good to go. I added sliced chives to the mixture and a little bit of salt.

Love doing things I didn't think I could do. Going to try some sweet ones tonight, with apricot sauce. And sorry, no pictorial evidence...they were gobbled up in ten minutes...