Post Christmas food frenzy: knoephla soup December 27, 2013
Posted by mareserinitatis in food/cooking.Tags: celiacs, cooking, German-Russian food, gluten free diet, knoephla soup, recipe
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If you grow up in western North Dakota (which is about any place west of Valley City), then you probably love knoephla soup. It’s my favorite comfort food, and I’ve gotten into serious arguments about the best place to get it. I really liked the stuff I got at Sunset Inn in New Salem, but Trapper’s Kettle in Belfield and the Freeway 147 truck stop outside of Mandan aren’t bad, either.
I’ll be honest, though. The best knoephla soup I’ve ever had was at Nichole’s in downtown Fargo.
So what it is? It’s a creamy dumpling soup made by the German-Russians who settled North Dakota (and surrounding areas). The dumplings are typically made by mixing wheat flour (and now you see the problem) with water or milk or any number of things to make buttons of dough which you throw in the soup to cook. Some people put potatoes in, some don’t. The recipe that follows is fairly preliminary, and I have to admit that I cheated: I didn’t make my own knoephla and instead used gluten-free gnocchi. (Any sane person who eats gnocchi has got to admit that it tastes remarkably like knoephla.) At some point, I’m going to give that a try, but I admit that on this occasion, I was feeling pretty lazy. If I ever do make my own knoephla, I’ll let you know about it…unless it goes badly.
Gluten free knoephla soup
(Or, if you prefer, I suppose you could call it gnocchi soup, too)
1 qt. poultry stock (I prefer homemade bone broth because it really improves the taste)
1/2-3/4 cup chopped carrots
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp cooking bacon grease or olive oil
2 tsp. salt
2 cups heavy cream
2 12 oz. bags of Conte’s gluten-free gnocchi OR 1 bag along with 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
The first step should be to pull the gnocchi out of the freezer. You don’t want it frozen solid, so just set it out at room temp until you get to it. You can set it out before chopping the veggies. Next, put carrots, onion, and oil or grease into a small frying pan on medium heat. While the carrots are cooking, put diced potato (if you’re using potatoes) into a large cooking pot (4 qt?) with the broth and salt. Bring broth to a boil whether or not using the potatoes. While waiting for the broth to boil, you can take the gnocchi and cut each one in half. Once the broth begins to boil and the onions in the carrot/onion mixture are translucent, add to the broth and boil for about 15 minutes. Finally, add the gnocchi and boil for an additional 8 minutes. Turn off the burner but don’t remove the pot. Add the cream and stir for a minute or two.
Makes six servings and takes about 45 minutes.
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