About the Recipe
Canederli (or Knödel in the region's German dialect) are traditional bread dumplings originating from the Trentino-Alto Adige region in northern Italy, with a history deeply rooted in Tyrolean and Austro-Hungarian culinary traditions. They are made from a base of dried or stale bread cubes soaked in milk, bound with eggs and flour, and commonly enriched with speck (smoked ham), local cheese, or parsley. The dumplings are boiled in salted water or simmered directly in broth. They are served either in a clear meat broth as a first course (primo piatto) or "asciutti" (dry) as a main course, accompanied by melted butter and often a side of sauerkraut or salad.
Ingredients
3 cups (250 g) breadcrumbs from very stale bread or 5 cups (250 g) diced day-old bread, plus additional breadcrumbs if needed
1 cup (237 ml) milk, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 g) unsalted butter, plus 4 additional tablespoons (60 g) if making optional frizzled sage
1 medium yellow onion (8 ounces; 226 g), minced
1/4 pound (113 g) minced speck or sweet Italian sausage (about 1 large link), casing removed
2 large eggs
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 ounce; 30 g), plus more for serving
1/4 cup minced flat-leaf parsley leaves and tender stems
1 1/2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus more as needed; for table salt use half as much by volume
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
2 quarts (2 L) rich homemade chicken stock or broth
15 picked fresh sage leaves, if making optional frizzled sage
Preparation
Step 1
In a large mixing bowl, stir together bread with milk until bread is evenly moistened. Set aside to allow milk to fully soak in. In a medium skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until softened but not browned, about 3 minutes. Add speck or sausage, and cook, stirring (and breaking up sausage into small pieces if using sausage), until onion is fully tender and, if using sausage, sausage is cooked through, about 2 minutes for speck and 5 minutes for sausage. Set aside to cool slightly. Add eggs, cheese, parsley, salt, pepper, and nutmeg (if using). Using clean hands, mix until all ingredients are fully incorporated. Add onion-pork mixture and mix once more to fully incorporate.
Step 2
Make a test bread dumpling: If mixture seems too dry to hold together when forming balls (you can test this by trying to make a ball), add more milk 1 tablespoon at a time until sufficiently moistened; if mixture seems too wet, dense, and pasty, add additional breadcrumbs 1 tablespoon at a time until excess moisture has been absorbed but mixture is still able to hold a ball without falling apart. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Using lightly moistened hands, roll bread mixture into roughly 1 1/2- to 2-inch balls, then set on prepared baking sheet. In a large saucepan or small pot or Dutch oven, heat broth until simmering (season with salt, if needed). Poach bread dumplings until fully heated through and floating on the surface, about 15 minutes.
Step 3
Meanwhile, if making frizzled sage, in a clean skillet, melt optional remaining 4 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat until foaming. Toss in sage leaves and cook, swirling, until frizzled, about 1 minute. Season with salt. You can either serve the poached dumplings on plates without the broth, spooning the frizzles sage leaves and butter on top, along with a sprinkling of grated cheese, or you can ladle some of the broth into serving bowls and set the dumplings in that, again sprinkling cheese on top.