An Austrian Dish - Bread Dumplings with Mushroom Sauce

I'd like to introduce you to a dish from my home. 
Traditional Austrian bread dumplings with a creamy mushroom sauce that will blow your mind. 

In German this would be called "Semmelknoedel und Schwammerlsauce" .....yeah doesn't sound that appealing....

The boyfriend also made a remark that it doesn't look appealing either. I have to admit, bread dumplings are not the prettiest of all dumplings. The ugly duckling dumpling.

Or maybe the boyfriend meant the mushrooms with his hurtful comment....well, don't judge a book by its cover and all that stuff......don't be shallow, give this dish a chance, try to look past its unfortunate appearance, it is so damn delicious.


Bread dumplings (makes 2 dumplings)
1 cup coarse breadcrumbs
1 tbsp chopped onions
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
salt
black pepper
thyme

Put the breadcrumbs on a tray and leave them in a hot oven for a couple of minutes to dry them a bit (it will make the process easier for you). Instead of breadcrumbs you can also use coarsely chopped stale bread.

Mix in the onions, egg and milk. Add a little more milk if you think you need it, but the mixture shouldn't be sticky. It should be really easy to form balls that hold together well.
Add salt, pepper and thyme. Trust your taste buds.

Put the dumplings in a pot of hot water, and let them simmer, not boil, for about 10 minutes. Place them on kitchen tissue after you take them out so the dumplings are not too soggy.

Mushroom sauce (makes 1 serving)
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chopped onions
1 tbsp dried mushrooms
1/2 cup vegetable stock
3 tbsp cream
salt
black pepper
fresh parsley

Fry the mushrooms and onions in the olive oil until the mushrooms get a nice dark colour and are just starting to get crispy. Finely chop the dried mushrooms and add them in.
Add in the vegetable stock and the cream. Be generous with salt and pepper.
Let the sauce simmer for a bit and then finish it off with some chopped fresh parsley.

Boom, just like my nanna makes it.
(What is it with grandmas and cooking......?)