Spinach and Ricotta Dumplings

I got Adam the Good Housekeeping Step by Step Cookbook for Christmas last year after he expressed an interest in learning how to cook. It's supposed to be one of those how-to books, and it does contain a lot of useful info, but the recipes themselves are not what I'd call beginner recipes, especially for a guy who has to be reminded to drain pasta before putting sauce on it. Anyway, he hasn't actually made any of the recipes himself yet, but I've started using it more lately.

Wednesday night I decided to try the Spinach and Ricotta Dumplings for the first time. I had high hopes that William would accept this dish. He's a pretty picky eater, but in an unusual way. He loves most green veggies but it's usually a struggle to get him to eat meats and carbohydrates. Dairy products are hit-or-miss; he will always eat plain cheese and chocolate pudding but nothing else is guaranteed. We still can't get him to drink milk. So instead of cleverly hiding veggies in meatballs, as I assume most parents have to do, we have to hide the other food groups in veggies. The more "green," the greater chance that he'll eat it. So I thought these dumplings would be perfect - green and oval (another plus) but containing a good amount of dairy. Well, as it would turn out, William didn't touch them. The recipe didn't turn out that well either.



I think the main lesson I learned from this experience is: squeeze dry spinach really well! First of all, the recipe called for either fresh spinach or frozen chopped spinach. All I had was frozen leaf spinach, but I figured what the hell, I'll just use the handheld blender on it after it's cooked. So I ended up with not-well-drained partially pulverized leaves and stringy stems that didn't get chopped.

When I mixed the dumpling batter, mine was way greener than the one in the picture. Theirs looked mostly white with some green specks, but mine looked like a big green mush (I started to suspect something was wrong at that point, but it was too late).



Then my batter was too wet to form into dumplings, so I ended up having to add a lot more flour, and even then I had to roll the dumplings in more flour to get them to hold together enough to drop into the water.



The dumplings were supposed to float to the top of the water when done, and thankfully mine did that at least. They actually managed to hold together fairly well, too. Of course they were also coated with that slimy flour-y stuff too, which ended up making the sauce thicker than it should have been after the whole thing baked.





The final product tasted pretty good, although it seemed a bit lacking in seasoning. Of course William rejected it, but according to what we've been reading, it can take a toddler up to 10 exposures to a new food before he will accept it. So we have hope.

All in all, I'd say this recipe has potential, but next time I will (1) not make it on a weeknight - it just took too long, (2) use already chopped spinach, (3) squeeze out the spinach better, (4) use maybe half the spinach, (5) add more seasoning: at least another clove of garlic, some salt in the sauce, and maybe some other seasoning (I'll have to look up what goes well with this sort of thing).

The Recipe
(adapted from Good Housekeeping Step by Step Cookbook)

Dumplings
20 ounces fresh or frozen spinach (next time I will start with half this much)
8 ounces ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup flour (more or less depending on consistency of batter)
1 clove garlic (could use more)

White Sauce
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups milk
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

plus 1/4 cup more Parmesan for the top

For fresh spinach, wilt it and then chop it. For frozen spinach, thaw it. Drain and squeeze dry.

Combine all the ingredients for the dumplings, then shape into 1-inch by 2-inch ovals. (At this point, I also rolled the ovals in more flour, but that shouldn't be necessary if the batter is dry enough.)

Drop a few dumplings at a time into a large pot of boiling water, reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the dumplings float to the top (~5 minutes). Put on a paper towel to drain (but not for too long or they will start sticking to the paper towel!).

Melt butter over medium heat, then add flour, stir together, and cook for 1 minute. Gradually add milk and heat until thickened and boiling or close to boiling while stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup of Parmesan.

Arrange the dumplings in a casserole dish (I found they fit perfectly in a 9x13 pan), and cover with the white sauce. Sprinkle with ~1/4 cup Parmesan. Bake 15-20 minutes at 350ºF until sauce is bubbly and cheese is slightly browned on top.