Yum

A while back I had been asked to post a couple of recipes, liver dumplings for soups and kolace, I have been remise at posting them up until now… finally… tada…. the liver dumplings or Játrové Knedlíčky!  The kolace are coming…. soon I promise.

It’s hard sometimes to make things for a blog post when the people in your house don’t like something and that that has been my issue up until now. I’m really the only one in the house who likes liver and I must admit it’s not as if I crave it on any regular basis or anything. My favourite way to have liver has been disguised as steak with a huge pile of caramelized onions and some good steak sauce.  Even then if it was ever overcooked, usually by me, not my mom, then it was just not great. There is a very fine line between cooked and bone dry. Last week when I was enjoying a beef tenderloin and reminiscing about my mom’s ‘steak’ I actually craved liver. And I remembered that these dumplings have been on my list of things to make since someone asked me for the recipe a while back…. sorry it’s taken me so long… 🙂  But trust me when I say… they’re worth waiting for?

No kidding… these are DAMN good!

This post is long overdue though it works out well since my T is coming over tomorrow for dinner and she likes liver. She’s the other unusual one in my family because she’ll just generally eat anything that is good for her, even if she has to argue with her tastebuds. I’m guessing she’ll like this and I have to say it’s been many many years since I’ve had these and I like them far more than I remember. Perhaps my tastebuds have matured as well.

At any rate, if you’re iron levels are low or you think you may need a boost to help recover from a long winter give these babies a try. They are subtle and super light and fluffy, not like biting into a piece of liver if that scares you, and the garlic and marjoram give them a lovely flavour.

Játrové Knedlíčky – Liver Dumplings

• 100 grams ground beef liver
• 100 grams day old bun or bread slices soaked in milk (with the excess liquid squeezed out)
• 1 egg
• 1-2 crushed garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper (adjust to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon wheatlets

Likely you won’t find ground beef liver anywhere, you’ll have to grind your own. I bought regular sliced beef liver, pulled the membrane off (don’t forget to do that) and then put through my meat grinder – you could also mince it very fine by hand.

Soak the bread in a little bit of milk for a few minutes, then squeeze out the excess liquid.

Mix together all ingredients and let sit for 3 – 5 minutes. The reason for this is that the wheatlets need to absorb the liquid before you cook them, if you don’t let them do that they tend to be hard in the middle and we don’t want that.

Your mixture should be a very loose dough or fairly thick porridge consistency. Use a teaspoon to scoop some of the mixture and drop in gently in a pot of simmering broth. I have found that if I first dip the spoon in the hot broth then the mixture will come off the spoon much earlier and won’t fall apart. Let the dumplings simmer for 3-5 minutes and then you’re done.

I would make one and then taste it so that you can adjust the seasonings, I added more garlic and marjoram but that’s because I love strong flavours and these are two of my favourites.

These are great because unlike noodles, you can leave them in the soup and they won’t become mushy with time as they sit. And because you’ll give your iron level a boost!