German Bread Dumplings (Semmelknödel)

Place the bread cubes in a medium sized bowl and pour the warm water over the top. Add to taste salt, pepper and nutmeg. Let soak for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not discard any leftover liquid.

Peel the onion, then rinse and dry a handful of fresh parsley. Finely dice onion and chop up the parsley leaves.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium high heat, add diced onion until it turns a light brown color. Add the chopped parsley and let wilt. Remove from heat.

Add the egg and the cooked onion-parsley mixture to the milk-soaked bread and knead together. Add some flour until your dough sticks together nicely.

Heat a large pot of salted water until boiling.

Shape a small test dumpling (about the size of a bouncy ball or one fourth of the size of a regular-sized dumpling). Reduce heat to just hot water and let steep a couple of minutes.

If the dumpling falls apart, add more breadcrumbs to the soft dumpling mixture and make another test dumpling.

Using wet hands, shape 6 dumplings and add to the boiling water, reduce heat to medium and let steep for about 20 minutes.

Serve with my creamy mushroom sauce (Jägersosse), a German roast like Böfflamott or Glühweinbraten, or my German pork goulash.