LAMBERT'S DUMPLINGS

Blood of Elves

rustic potato dumplings with boletus and bear’s garlic

 

What do witchers eat? Probably you asked yourself this question more than once … in turn, we would rather ask if witchers, except skills useful in their profession, also have a culinary talent?

It might seem that after passing the mutations trial, qualified monster killers are not really familiar with culinary pleasures. Nothing could be more wrong! In books, Geralt often has an occasion to taste local specialties, from both simple and more exquisite cuisine. White wolf, together with his travel companions, enjoyed dishes served in roadside taverns as well as in the most wonderful inns or royal banquets. Well, but do witchers know how to cook something by themselves? In the books of Andrzej Sapkowski the subject of kitchen arts wasn’t pushed into the background by other plots. In addition to the diverse characteristics of the dishes assigned to specific regions and places in the universe, the author even attempted to distinguish some characters by determining their culinary skills. And thanks to that we know what witchers ate in Kaer Morhen and that even one of the them, Lambert, was given a very special distinction… a total lack of culinary talent.

I’m not tired. I’m hungry
Bloody hell, so am I. And today’s Lambert’s turn and he can’t cook anything other than noodles… If he could only cook those properly...

Blood of elves
Andrzej Sapkowski

 

As in the life of every witcher, duties often outweigh the pleasures. However, in this case we mean the management of responsibilities in the kitchen of witchers’ settlement. We still believe that few lessons will be enough to help Lambert increase his cooking skills! Let it be the first one :)  The recipe is based on a traditional, Polish dumplings made of grated, raw potatoes (called “grey dumplings”) and few additional ingredients which fit the surrounding, mountain terrain of Kaer Morhen. 

 

TIME: 40 min

SERVING: 2 portions

DIFFICULTY: easy

INGREDIENTS

DUMPLINGS

potatoes - 500g

egg - 1 small

all purpose flour - 1/2 cup, plus more if needed

potato starch - 1 tbsp

salt - 1/2 tsp

 

TOPPINGS

onion - 1 small

forest mushrooms, dried (such as bay boletus) - 15 g

bear’s garlic, dried - 1 tsp

butter - 1 tbsp

freshly ground pepper

salt

1. MUSHROOMS
Place muhsrooms in a bowl and cover with lukewarm water, soak them for 20 minutes, then drain. Don't discard the soaking water, but get rid of sand residue that may be left at the bottom.

2. POTATOES
Peel the potatoes and grate them on the smallest / fine grating mesh. Squeeze the potato mass through the gaze to separate the liquid, pour the liquid into a separate bowl, and set aside for 15 minutes. Pour out the liquid carefully (discard it), then add starch residue accumulated on the bottom of the bowl to the grated and drained potatoes mass.

3. DOUGH
Add the egg, all-purpose flour, potato starch and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the grated potatoes. Mix. The dough should be quite dense at this point. Put the dough on a large, flat plate, level it with a spoon.

4. COOKING DUMPLINGS
Boil a few liters of water in a large pot, add 1 tablespoon of salt. Put a few dumplings into boiling water - by pulling the small portion of a dough with a wet spoon from the plate directly into the water.  After 1 minute, gently stir them with wooden spoon. Cook the dumplings for about 4 minutes after they float to the surface. If they break up while cooking in water, add more flour to the mass and try again. Drain the cooked dumplings and place in a bowl.

5. FRYING
In the meantime, slice the onion. Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the onion slices for 2 minutes. Then add drained mushrooms and 2 tablespoons of soaking water and stir-fry for 10 minutes on low heat, until slightly browned. Season with salt, fresh pepper and bear’s garlic. Finally, add the cooked dumplings and fry over medium heat for one minute, stirring gently but frequently. Serve immediately.

 

The recipe is inspired by the book BLOOD OF ELVES written by Andrzej Sapkowski

SEE BLOOD OF ELVES ON ORBIT BOOKS

Geralt of Rivia, the cunning assassin known as the Witcher, has been waiting for the birth of a prophesied child. This child has the power to change the world — for good, or for evil. As the threat of war hangs over the land and the child is hunted for her extraordinary powers, it will become Geralt’s responsibility to protect them all. And the Witcher never accepts defeat.

By constructing subversive and touching stories, collected in two volumes - "The Last Wish" and "Sword of Destiny", Sapkowski gathered a variety of extraordinary heroes, drew a map of feuding kingdoms, crossing passions and interests. The real fight for the shape and fate of this world begins only now - in the first volume of the Witcher saga.