Marillenknödel (Apricot Dumplings)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Potato ricer or fine sieve
• •Wide, deep saucepan for boiling
• •Wide frying pan for breadcrumbs
• •Slotted spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Boil and rice the potatoes

   Put the potatoes, whole and unpeeled, into a large pan of cold salted water. Bring to a gentle boil and cook until a knife slides through without resistance, twenty to twenty-five minutes depending on size. Drain and let them sit for a few minutes until cool enough to handle, then peel while still warm. Pass them through a potato ricer or push them through a fine sieve onto a clean work surface. Spread them out and let the steam escape. This matters. Wet potatoes make sticky dough, and sticky dough makes sad dumplings.

   Use a floury variety, the kind that falls apart when overcooked. In Austria they use mehlige Kartoffeln. A Maris Piper or King Edward works well. Waxy potatoes won't give you the right texture.
2. 2

   Make the dough

   Once the potato has cooled to just warm, add the flour, egg yolk, softened butter, and salt. Work it together gently with your hands until you have a smooth, pliable dough. It should be soft but not tacky. If it sticks to your palms, dust with a little more flour, but add it sparingly. Too much flour and the dumplings turn heavy. You're looking for something that feels like a well-behaved bread dough, willing to be shaped without fighting back.

   Griffiges Mehl is a slightly coarser Austrian flour that absorbs moisture beautifully and keeps the dough light. If you can find it in a delicatessen, use it. Plain flour works, but go easy with it.
3. 3

   Prepare the apricots

   Split each apricot along its natural seam and ease the stone out. Don't cut them fully in half. You want them to open like a book, just enough to remove the stone and slip a sugar cube inside. Close them up again. The sugar will melt into the fruit as the dumplings cook, creating a pocket of warm, syrupy juice inside. This is the hidden heart of the dish.

   The apricots must be ripe. Not firm, not hard, not the sort you have to leave on the windowsill for a week. Ripe enough that they give when you press them gently, fragrant enough that you can smell them before you pick them up. If they don't smell of anything, they won't taste of anything either. The market decides.
4. 4

   Wrap the dumplings

   Dust your work surface lightly with flour. Divide the dough into eight equal pieces. Flatten each piece in your palm into a round about half a centimetre thick, large enough to comfortably enclose an apricot. Place an apricot in the centre, sugar cube tucked inside, then draw the dough up and around it, pinching the seams closed. Roll gently between your palms to smooth the surface. The dough should cover the fruit completely with no thin spots or gaps. Set each one on a lightly floured board as you go.

   If the dough tears or feels too thin in places, the dumpling may burst during cooking. Better to err on the side of a slightly thicker coating. With practice, your hands learn the right thickness. The first batch teaches you everything the second batch needs.
5. 5

   Boil the dumplings

   Bring a wide, deep pan of lightly salted water to a gentle simmer. Not a rolling boil. Aggressive water breaks dumplings apart. Lower them in carefully, a few at a time so they aren't crowded, and let them cook at a steady, quiet simmer. They'll sink at first, then gradually rise to the surface. Once they float, give them another three to four minutes. Fifteen minutes total is about right. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and let them drain briefly.

   The why behind the gentle simmer: potato dough is delicate. Turbulent water batters the surface and can cause the dumplings to split, releasing the fruit and its juices into the water. A calm surface is a kind surface.
6. 6

   Toast the breadcrumbs

   While the dumplings cook, melt the butter in a wide frying pan over a medium heat. When it foams, add the breadcrumbs and the Vanillezucker. Stir constantly. The crumbs will absorb the butter and then gradually begin to colour, turning from pale to biscuit to a warm, toasty gold. This takes five or six minutes of steady attention. Trust your nose. When they smell of toasted nuts and vanilla, they're done. Take them off the heat immediately. The line between golden and burnt is thin and unforgiving.

7. 7

   Roll and serve

   Toss the warm dumplings into the buttered breadcrumbs, turning them until they're coated on all sides. The crumbs will cling to the damp surface of the dough, forming a golden, crisp shell. Transfer to warm plates, two per person. Dust generously with icing sugar. Serve straight away, while the steam still rises and the apricot inside is molten and sweet. There are few better feelings than putting a warm plate of these in front of someone on a summer evening.

Chef Tips

• •The dough is forgiving but only to a point. Work it just enough to bring it together. If you knead it like bread, the gluten in the flour develops too far and the dumplings turn chewy instead of tender. Gentle hands. Brief work. Then stop.
• •A sugar cube inside each apricot is the traditional Austrian way, and it's there for good reason. As the dumpling cooks, the sugar dissolves into the hot fruit, creating a concentrated syrupy pocket that bursts when you cut into it. Don't skip this. It's the quiet surprise at the centre of the whole thing.
• •If you can't find Wachau apricots, use the ripest, most fragrant ones available. Small, deeply coloured fruit will always outperform the large, bland sort. Press your thumb gently against the skin at the market. If it gives a little and smells sweet, take it home. If it smells of nothing, leave it.
• •Leftover dumplings, if such a thing is possible, can be halved and fried in butter the next day until the cut sides turn golden and crisp. A different thing entirely, and arguably just as good.

Advance Preparation

• •The potato dough can be made an hour or two ahead and kept covered at room temperature. Don't refrigerate it, as cold dough becomes stiff and difficult to work.
• •The apricots can be stoned and stuffed with sugar cubes in advance and kept on a plate in the fridge until you're ready to wrap them.
• •The breadcrumbs can be toasted in butter up to a few hours ahead and gently rewarmed in the pan before rolling the dumplings. They lose their crispness if left too long, so closer to serving is better.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 300g)