Lockdown Recipe of the Day: Wintry brussels sprouts soup with venison dumplings
by Gordon WrightThis recipe provided by Karoo cookery book author Gordon Wright, author of Karoo Food and Veld to Fork, is always on the table when Rose Wright and her friend Nina, whose recipe it is, get together in the deep platteland.
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A few sprouty tips for you first: They cook faster and more evenly if you cut a cross at the bottom before cooking. A pinch of sugar and some butter in the cooking water soothes the bitter taste. Spices like caraway seeds, fennel and anise makes the sprouts more digestible.
Ingredients
Serves 4
500g brussels sprouts
2 onions
1 tsp clarified butter
750 ml meat stock
Salt & pepper to taste
2g pinch of grated nutmeg
150g crème fraiche
For the dumplings:
1 bunch chives (or 3 tbsp frozen chives),
1 garlic clove,
300g venison mince,
3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion
50g all purpose flour
Method
Clean and wash brussels sprouts. Peel onions and cut into cubes then brown in hot butter in a pot.
Add brussels sprouts and pour stock into the pot. Bring to the boil, season with salt and pepper and cook for 12-15 mins on medium heat until sprouts are firm.
Stir in creme fraiche and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
For the dumplings:
Rinse chives, dry and cut into small pieces. Peel and cut leftover onion and garlic finely.
Mix mince with onions, garlic, flour and half of the chives and knead to form a dough-like consistency.
Form little dumplings out of the mince mix and brown them in hot oil. Add them to the soup and simmer for 5 mins.
Serve with a sprinkling of chives. DM/TGIFood
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Gordon Wright
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