Canederli dumplings, spinach and speck

As a simple dish of peasant origin, canederli used to be made from the leftovers of other meals: in fact, the recipe requires stale bread, milk and eggs, all of which are flavoured with other ingredients from the larder. Similarly to gnocchi, whose size can vary according to individual tastes, canederli with spinach and speck make a very tasty first course that is easy to prepare.

Method:

To prepare canederli dumplings with spinach and speck, start by dicing the stale bread and leaving it to soften in warm milk. In the meantime, lightly cook the spinach and, for extra flavour, toss it in a pan with some fried onions and speck cut into fine strips. When the spinach has cooled, put it into a large bowl and add the bread, eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, flour and two spoonfuls of breadcrumbs. Mix all the ingredients and blend them well so that you can shape the resulting dough into canederli: there are no set rules as to their size, so you are free to decide how you like them.  

Heat the vegetable or meat broth and, when it comes to the boil, add the canederli and let them cook for about fifteen minutes. Serve piping hot with a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese.