Potato guts...the final story...
The challenge I asked the community to provide suggestions on was, “what to do with the inner baked potato (potato guts) after removing to make baked potato skins. And in addition, if the leftover garlic Texas toast I also had could be incorporated it would be even better.
You all have given me great ideas beyond these two ingredients that has inspired me to even more.
So here we go with the final outcome of my challenge:
So, I added even more to my challenge. I had green beans from the garden as well as fresh homegrown tomatoes you see here all skinned and ready to go that needed to be dealt with (I’m seeing green beans in my nightmares at this point in the season).
I also had some already cooked green pepper pieces from a takeout Chinese (Americanized Chinese) meal that I saved. I don’t like green peppers in my Chinese or stir fries…jalapenos yes, green peppers no, so I remove them…and in this case I knew I had this idea coming up so I saved them.
Also in pic 1 you see the cocktail of choice for this evening of cooking; The Bakewell Fizz, A maraschino cherry in the bottom (I was literally fresh out of kirsh soaked cherries), a tablespoon of Kirshwasser, 3 ounces Prosecco and topped with one ounce of amaretto. I can literally drink these as shots…ok, maybe two swallows.
The plan became “Amish Potato Dumplings” with Italian green beans and stewed tomatoes.
So of course I sliced an onion and a small handful of fresh garlic
Sautéed in olive oil
To the onions and garlic I added the tomatoes and seasonings like salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, dried oregano and thyme rubbed between fingers. When I needed more salt, I used a trick I lean on these days for extra umami, and that is in this case is granulated tomato bouillon (the same trick works with other bouillons using them instead of salt in various dishes).
Added the green beans
Added those leftover green peppers chopped up.
And this cooked for I think it was a good couple of hours until the beans were soft. They are end of season beans, so a little tough. I wasn’t timing these, they are done when they are done…plus I had plenty of fixings for Blakewell fizzes to keep me occupied!
On to the dumplings. I liked this recipe I found on the age old “Cooks.com” web site for Amish Potato Dumplings because I liked the sound of the bread being incorporated as crumbs IN the dumplings rather than croutons stuffed inside them or toasted crumbs sprinkled on top like Kartoffelkloesse.
I had about 7 oz of potato “guts” and the leftover Texas toast made ½ cup of crumbs which was the amount in the actual recipe I found that specified “4 potatoes”. Really? “4 potatoes”?…Not exactly and “exacting” recipe huh? The recipe also called for 1 egg, 2 tbl milk, 1 tbl flour, salt pepper and parsley. I skipped the parsley but added garlic and onion powder.
Mixed and mashed thoroughly, formed in to walnut sized balls and then…oh yea, the flour doesn’t go in the mixture, you roll the balls in the flour. I have never done this before but I assume it helped hold the balls together. Brilliant!
Here is a close up on my test dumpling. They are so soft and delicate…well worth the fuss.
And in to gently boiling water and a return to boil for 10 minutes. They float sooner but the recipe specified 10 minutes so that’s what I did and they were perfect.
The final plating.
Drizzled some of the tomato sauce from the beans over top and served with some spiral sliced ham and the requisite blob of Inglehoffer’s Sweet Hot mustard.
Not bad at all.
I had leftover dumpling mixture that went back in the fridge.
So a few days later, second run. This time with brown butter ala CraigC’s gnocchi suggestion and a tomato and goat cheese crumble salad with homemade Dijon white wine vinaigrette and fresh basil. This time I whooped out a standard can of bread crumbs and just sprinkled over the dumplings and salad, like I said I wasn’t doing to the dumplings the first time! Hey, it was a different day and I was drinking draft Weizenbock I brought back from Greenbrier Brewing Company near Lewisburg WV…good stuff, and I suppose it made me feel slightly more German than Amish!
So there you go folks, I hope the picture spread worked out, this is my first attempt at multi-pic blog style on here.
Thanks to all!
When I make the dumplings for sauerbraten, I make extra to have for breakfast. They get cooked and put in the fridge. Next morning, I slice them about 1/2" thick and fry the slices in butter until golden brown on each side. A couple of over-easy eggs on top and 
