Recipe of the week: Canederli with speck

In northeastern Italy, which shares many food traditions with neighboring Austria, the dumplings known as canederli are a favorite winter comfort food, said Emiko Davies in Food52.com. Served with a butter sauce or in beef broth, this ancient peasant dish remains “a masterful way of using up old bread and the leftover ends of ham and cheese.”

• 9 oz stale white bread, crusts on
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp chopped onion
• 3½-oz speck, chopped
• 1 tbsp chives, chopped, plus extra for garnish
• 1 tbsp parsley, chopped
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• beef broth or butter and sage

Cut bread into 1⁄3-inch cubes and set aside in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a pan with olive oil and sauté the onion until soft. Add speck and cook a few minutes. Add onion and speck to the bread, along with the herbs, eggs, and milk. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Mix with hands to combine, then let bread soak up the milk for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally so that the bread is evenly coated.

When mixture can be rolled into balls (add 1 tbsp each of bread crumbs and flour if necessary), use wet hands to roll into eight compact balls about 2½ inches in diameter.

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Cook canederli in boiling beef broth or water until they float, 10–12 minutes. Serve with broth and some chives or remove from broth and serve with a sage-and-butter sauce, made by melting butter in a skillet, adding the sage leaves, and cooking gently about 1 minute. Serves 4.