Stale Bread Canederli & Broth

📝 Ingredients

• 300 g stale country bread
• 250 ml semi-skimmed milk
• 3 eggs
• 50 g plain flour
• 160 g cooked ham (4 slices)
• 80 g grated Emmental
• 1 brown onion (about 100 g) + 10 g unsalted butter
• 25 g fresh chives
• 2 chicken stock cubes + 1.5 l water
• 3 carrots (about 100 g each)
• 1 leek (about 200 g)
• Salt, black pepper, 1 pinch of nutmeg

🍴 Utensils

• Large mixing bowl
• Large stockpot
• Small frying pan
• Slotted spoon
• Ladle

📖 Steps

1. Cut the stale bread into small cubes of about 1 cm, crust included, and put them in a large mixing bowl. Warm the milk slightly (30 s in the microwave), pour it over the bread and mix. Leave to soak for 15 min, stirring halfway through: the bread should be moist but not soggy.
2. Meanwhile, finely chop the onion and soften it in the butter in a small frying pan for 5 min over a low heat, until translucent. Cut the ham into small dice and finely snip the chives.
3. Beat the eggs with a fork and add them to the bread with the onion, ham, Emmental, three quarters of the chives, the nutmeg and some pepper (very little salt: the ham and cheese are already salty). Mix by hand, then work in the flour and leave to rest for 10 min.
4. While it rests, peel the carrots and cut them into 5 mm rounds. Halve the leek lengthways, rinse it under running water, fanning out the layers to remove any soil, then slice it thinly.
5. In a large stockpot, bring 1.5 l water to the boil with the crumbled stock cubes. Add the carrots and leek and cook for 10 min at a gentle simmer, uncovered.
6. With wet hands, shape 8 large dumplings about 6 cm in diameter, like a tennis ball, pressing them firmly so they are compact and smooth: this is what stops them falling apart. Wet your hands again as soon as the mixture sticks.
7. Gently lower the dumplings into the barely simmering broth (a rolling boil would make them burst) and cook for 15 min, uncovered, over a low-medium heat. They rise to the surface and swell slightly when cooked.
8. Place 2 canederli in each soup plate with the vegetables and a ladle of piping hot broth. Adjust the seasoning of the broth with salt and pepper, sprinkle with the remaining chives and serve immediately.