Another Dumpling Weekend: Gnochettis, Chicken & Dumplings, Czech Fruit Dumplings & Khinkali

t was another dumpling weekend (this time with Shelley)

Shelley came to visit and in addition to going to Anza-Borrego to see the wildflowers, we had a dumpling weekend.  The first dumping adventure was to eat one of the eight dumplings recommended by Zagat in San Diego. 

We went to Cocina Sorella in Kensington on Adams Avenue and ate their Gnochettis Sardi. Now this was really delicious-pasta with a spicy sausage, brown butter and broccoli rabe but I am not sure it was a dumpling.  Zagat thinks so and I am happy to eat more of them, dumpling or no dumpling. Also CNN feels that gnocchi are #26 on the world list of dumplings and the regular gnocchi do seem dumpling like but not as much these little guys.  They seemed like a small pasta but while this might look at bit plain in the photos, the flavor was out of this world. I am a fan of browned butter but the spicy sausage and broccoli rabe add crunch and spice.

For dumpling adventure #2, we tried #16 from the CNN dumplings from around the world.  This one is, of course, American, and we made it ourselves. There are a number of recipes for this on line and my mom had her own version but I decided to go with  Martha Stewart. It has been a while since I made something of hers and I liked the idea of the carrots and the dill in the dumplings. We decided this falls smack dab in the area of pizza and macaroni and cheese-really good but not necessarily all that good for you. That being said, we ate it a few times. Actually, until it ran out. I am making more.

Dumpling adventure #3 was also an eat in adventure.  I had already made #29 on the CNN list which are svestkove knedily or Czech fruit dumplings.  Once again, I made them with raspberries and served them with melted butter, slivered almonds and sugar/cinnamon.  The recipe I used was from Grown to Cook. I am putting in my rough equivalents but feel free to look this up yourself.  We boiled some and steamed some and I think I like the steamed version the best.  I also love that these can be a breakfast (yep, we ate them that way), a snack (yep, we ate them that way) or a dessert (yep, we ate them that way).  In both cases one batch made 18 dumplings which are just too few.

Our final dumpling adventure involved traveling to Pomegranate on El Cajon Blvd to eat, among other things, Khinkali. These are a thick-dough, meatball stuffed Georgian (the country) soup dumpling.  I learned there is a trick to eating them:  You turn them on their side, holding them by the “stem” take a small bite to release the steam, drink the broth and then eat the dumpling.  My only question? Do they sell them to go so I can make them any time I want them.  Not yet sure of the answer, but I will check.