Weekend herb blogging #75

Number 75 of Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging is on the way and Kate from Thyme for Cooking will host it.

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My doughter "forced" me to make something Swabian/Bavarian called Schupfnudeln or Buabaspitzle. Don't ask me what Buabaspitzle means. The shape of the dumplings should resemble this. But I'm sure if you dive into the internet with some googles on you'll find an answer. She loves this kind of potatoe-dumplings, related to the Italian gnocchi, pan fried and served with a green salad. You can eat them with cinnamon sugar and/or apple sauce, panfried in butter with poppy seeds, with sauerkraut and bacon dices, as a side dish to meat, and with many other things. If you ask where are the herbs. They are in the salad dressing I adopted from Tamy which is initially from "Barefoot Contessa at Home". "Tons" of freshly harvested basil. And Kate herself chose pepper for this event. I have the mildest form of the pepper family in my salad, a regular capsicum vegetable with the lowest concentration of capsaicinoids. For the Dumplings I used a recipe I found on an German webpage Kochbären.
I made only half the amount of the dressing since we are only three at home these days. My husband is in China, my oldest son in India and my doughter will leave us to go to Malaysia the following week. The mayonnaise, the recipe is calling for, I made on my own since I normally don't use it and I'm honestly not a fan of ready prepared things like store-bought mayonnaise in a jar.

I'll call this dish:

Swabian potatoe-dumplings on salad with anchovy paste-basil dressing

Ingredients for the Schupfnudeln:

750 gstarchy potatoes
150 gwheat all-purpose flour, or more, it depends on the used potatoes
3eggs
½ tspnutmeg, freshly ground or ground mace
1 tsp
salt

1½ Tsoil or lard for pan frying - I used goose lard


Preparation:

Cook the potatoes one day ahead. I cooked them without the use of water in the oven until the peel starts to shrink. Like I used to do it with my plum stuffed-potatoe dumplings.

Open the potatoes and scratch them out using a tablespoon. Mash them, and mix them together with the other ingredients to a smooth dough. You may need more flour if the starch-content of the potatoes is not high enough.
On a floured working surface roll out the dough in small portions to a 1½ cm string. Cut the strings in 4 cm pieces. Roll the pieces away from you using your palm. The ends should be thinner then the rest of the dumpling.
Bring water to a boil in a pot. Reduce the heat and cook the dumplings in batches in simmering water until they swim on the water surface. Put them out with a slotted spoon and let them drain in a sieve.
Heat the fat in a pan and fry the Schupfnudeln, carefully turning around, in it until golden brown and slighty crisp.



Ingredients for the mayonnaise:

1eggyolk (freeze the leftover egg white for using it in soufflés, marshmellows , meringuen/baiser/pavlovas or something else)
½ Tbsmustard (Usually I make mustard with fine to coarse grounded mustard seeds, vinegar, and water. But in this case I decided to use only the mustard seeds, grounded to a fine powder, in a slightly smaller amount than the indicated ½ tablespoon.)
1pinch salt
1pinch black pepper, fresh ground
80 mlsunflower oil, cold pressed
½ Tbstarragon vinegar or white wine vinegar or lemon juice


Preparation:


Whisk the eggyolk together with the mustard powder, salt and pepper. Let half the amount of the oil drip in, whisking vigourously. When the mixture thickens add the remaining oil little by little, whisking constantly. When the mixture is glossy and smooth pour in, still whisking, the vinegar or lemon juice. Season to taste.



Ingredients for the basil green goddess dressing:

½ cupmayonnaise
3spring onions/scallions, peeled, washed, and the white part chopped ~ ½ cup
½ cupbasil, chopped (fresh from my window sill)
1lemon, the juice of it ~ 1/8 cup
1clove garlic, chopped ~ 1 teaspoon
1 tspanchovy/white bait/ikan billis paste (I think you can substitude them with capers if you don't like it "fishy")
3/4 tspKosher Salz
½ tspblack pepper, fresh ground
½ cupsour cream


Preparation:

Blend together the mayonnaise, spring onions, basil, lemon juice, anchovy paste, salt, and pepper to a smooth cream.
Add the sour creme and mix just until combined. Chill.


For the salad I washed, drained and cut in bitesize pieces butter head salad, red coral salad, cherry tomatoes riped on the vine, cucumber, radish, and of course yellow capsicum.

Serve it with the dressing and top it with roasted onion rings.









Instead of this dressing I usually make a simple vinegar-oil-vinaigrette and add some yoghurt and chopped herbs.

By the way if somebody deserves a "spicier" sauce with Jalapeno peppers I can recommend a salsa roja. But seriously I think a great way to serve the Swabian "Gnocchi" ist to serve them with a pesto made from roasted red bell peppers (to stick with Kate's own theme), garlic, basil, parmesan cheese, and maybe some chopped nuts. So this dish would fit the event this week as well. But the prepared salad with this goddess dressing is simply divine - ask my doughter.

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