Spinach & Cheese Dumplings w/ Lemon Herb Creme Fraiche

This recipe sounds like it may be difficult, but it was fairly easy! It comes from the cookbook Great Beginnings & Happy Endings- Hors d'oeuvres and Desserts for Standing Ovations by Renny Darling. The book was published in 1981!

Ingredients! As usual, the list will come at the end, but you can see the main things used! Not too many! (Spinach is not pictured. It was thawing in the sink!)

Opening our act tonight is the Lemon Herb Creme Fraiche:

 In a bowl, add the sour cream, cream, chopped fresh chives, lemon juice and italian herb seasoning!

Mix the ingredients together to form a dipping sauce. The recipe recommends refrigerating it for 24 hours (or until the cream thickens). I left it in the fridge for a few hours until the flavors came together. The lemon and rosemary (from the italian seasoning) are a fantastic combination.


On with the main event: Spinach & Cheese Dumplings!

In a large mixing bowl, add the chopped spinach, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, chopped green onion, eggs, italian herb seasoning, salt and pepper.

When you are done, you should have a similar mixture. The spinach and onions are evenly distributed.

Take some of the mixture and form into a patty. It says 1-inch patties, but we had a nice cast of different sizes!

Mmmm.... and it's not even cooked yet.

 

In a bowl of flour, dust each side of the patties.

 

Heat some butter (I used a nice big scoop from the tub) in a pan. Swirl the butter around over the heat so it does not burn!

 

Sautee the patties! It takes a few minutes on each side to brown. (this picture also gives you a good idea of how much butter should be in the pan!)

 

Flip the patties when the first side has finished browning! The smell will make you want to grab one and eat it right away! DO NOT DO THIS! As tempting as it may be...

 

The final scene: Eating it! 

 Thoughts on this show!

-There was not enough italian seasoning. We added double the amount for a nice flavor.

-Don't make them too thick when forming the patties! Don't make them too thin either... Tough, yes. If they are too thick they burn and do not cook. If they are too thin, they fall apart! 

-Very easy to prepare and make.

The cast of characters, each playing themselves:

Opening Act: Lemon Herb Creme Fraiche!

- 1/2 cup sour cream

- 1/2 cup cream (we used heavy whipping cream; to help with thickness!)

- 1/3 cup chopped fresh chives

- 1 teaspoon Italian Herb Seasoning (we used McCormick's Italian Herb Seasoning grinder! Love it.)

Main Act: Spinach & Cheese Dumplings

- 1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach; defrosted and drained.

- 1 cup ricotta cheese

- 3/4 cup parmesan cheese

- 1/2 cup bread crumbs (we used whole wheat bread crumbs)

- 1/4 cup chopped green onions

- 2 eggs

-1/2 teaspoon italian herb seasoning

- salt and pepper (to taste)

Supporting roles:

-flour for coating

-butter for sauteing

I hope you enjoyed our show tonight! Keep an eye out for two more recipes tomorrow!

<3

J