Sunday Supper: Pelmeni with Lamb, Yogurt, and Tomato Butter

I’ve got a fun Sunday project!

You could do this on any day of the week really, but these dumplings are a multi-step process that to me, sounds like an ideal way to spend a lazy Sunday, making each component in an unhurried way, slowly working your way to a pre-Monday supper.

What we’ve got here are pelmeni, those little Russian dumplings that can be filled with either meat or vegetables, or even sweet cheese for a dessert. The surprising information I have to admit is that before I made these, I’d never actually eaten pelmeni! I’ve only read about them, my mouth watering at the very idea of them, and imagining taking my dumpling obsession beyond dim sum to Siberia.

Thanks to that obsession, I put the Kachka cookbook on my wish list last year, and my friend Ginny bought it for my birthday. I immediately bought myself a pelmenista, or pelmeni shaper, but then both sat unused for over a year. That’s the way it tends to go in my kitchen. I’m always meaning to get to a certain project, but it can take time, as I balance my desire to cook everything with the limitations of only having to feed one person. But then I realized, um, these are perfectly freezable, so what was I waiting for? I wouldn’t have to eat over 100 dumplings in one go!

You might be wondering why I can’t just feed these to my friends? I would, but unfortunately the two friends who live closest to me, and are therefore available for a last-minute dumpling party, both have an aversion to lamb dumplings brought on by a truly horrific encounter with lamb dim sum a few years ago. I haven’t been able to convince them to give ground lamb another try since.

And I really, really wanted to make lamb for these! Because the other dumpling obsession I’ve been nurturing is Turkish manti, teeny, tiny meat-filled dumplings served in a tomato sauce with tons of flavor. I had a version in Sydney that may have been filled with short rib if I’m remembering correctly, but I knew they are traditionally made with lamb, and so in my head, if I was going to make manti, I was going to make them with lamb.

But have I mentioned how tiny manti are? I mean, I’m here trying to convince you to make these already small-ish dumplings, but I’m not sure I can even convince myself to make manti, they are so intricate and baby sized. So I started thinking about a sort of cheater’s version, and I remembered that pelmeni mold collecting dust in my closet.

And ta da! I have the manti flavors I wanted, brought to me by way of Russian innovation and inspiration. The final result is delicious! Rich, lamb-filled dumplings swimming in flavorful butter and yogurt, and topped with a shower of mint to lighten everything up and add a bit of freshness. These dumplings are indulgent, but worth it, in my opinion, and I have a stash in my freezer that will keep giving until I’m ready to try my hand at real, doll-sized manti.

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Manti-Style Dumplings

Dumpling dough and filling adapted from Kachka. Tomato butter and yogurt recipes adapted from Food & Wine.

For the dumpling dough:

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 tbs kosher salt

• 1 egg

• 3/4 cup plus 2 tbs cold water

For the Garlic Yogurt:

• 1 cup plain yogurt

• 1 /2 tsp grated garlic

• kosher salt, to taste

• milk or water, if needed, for thinning

For the Tomato Butter:

• 4 tbs salted butter

• 2 tbs tomato sauce

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

For the lamb filling:

• 1 lb ground lamb

• 1/2 large or 1 small onion, grated

• slightly less than 1/2 cup cold water (100 ml)

• 2 tsp kosher salt

• 1/4 tsp pepper

• 1 tbs dried parsley

For serving:

• Crushed red pepper

• fresh mint

1. Make the dumpling dough: In the bowl of a mixer, add the flour and salt. Using a dough hook, stir the flour and salt together on low speed. Add the egg, and while the mixer is running, slowly add in the water. Stir on low speed until the dough starts to come together, then knead on medium speed for 10 minutes, until the dough consistency is smooth and elastic (if kneading by hand, this will take about double the time). Turn out dough and wrap in plastic, then let rest for at least 1 hour at room temperature.

2. While dough is resting, prepare everything else. Make the garlic yogurt: combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine. Taste and adjust salt as needed, and thin out with a little milk or water if the yogurt seems especially thick. You don’t want it too thin but you want to be able to drizzle it onto the dumplings instead of plop it.

3. Make the tomato butter by adding all the ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat, and whisk while the butter melts, until a smooth sauce forms. Set aside, keeping warm on low heat, or transfer to a small bowl and refrigerate until needed. The heat from the cooked dumplings will help warm it.

4. Make the lamb filling: Place all the filling ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer, this time fitted with the paddle attachment. Stir everything together until it’s all incorporated and the fat from the lamb coats everything. The mixture should feel very sticky. This should only take up to a couple minutes, or slightly longer if mixing by hand.

5. Form the dumplings: when the dough has rested and everything else is prepared, you are ready to assemble! I used a pelmeni mold, but I’ve included instructions below for forming by hand if you don’t want to buy one. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts and roll into balls. Cover with a dish towel, and take one ball of dough. Dust your countertop and the pelmeni mold with flour, and roll out the first dough ball into a thin round that is slightly larger than the mold. Drape it over the mold and lightly press so you can see the outline of the mold underneath.

6. Using a teaspoon measure, scoop a teaspoon of filling into each little dimple. Once all are filled, roll out a second sheet of dough. Lightly brush the dough around the filling with a little water, and drape the second sheet of dough over top. With your rolling pin, roll across the top, firmly pressing down on the mold. This will push the filling down into the bottom dough sheet and cut out the little hexagonal dumpling shapes, sealing them in the process. It’s kind of actual magic. Transfer the dumplings to a floured baking sheet and toss a bit to coat in flour and stop them from sticking to each other. Repeat with remaining filling and dough. I was able to get about 112 dumplings, and you will have a bit of dough left over.

7. Once dumplings are formed, you can freeze them in a single layer on the baking sheet and then transfer to a plastic bag for storage when they are frozen. If you are ready to eat them now, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the dumplings. For the molded dumplings, a generous portion is about 20. Lower the heat a bit to keep everything at a steady but gentle boil and cook for about 5 minutes. If cooking from frozen, add a couple minutes to the cooking time.

8. For serving, remove the boiled dumplings from the pot with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl. Add a generous amount of garlic yogurt and tomato butter, and toss everything to combine a bit. Sprinkle with chili flakes and some fresh, torn or chopped mint, and serve while piping hot.

Notes:

• If you want to make the dumplings by hand without the mold, it’s no more difficult but a little more time consuming, but similar to forming ravioli or potstickers. Divide dough into 4 pieces instead of 8, and roll out the first piece on a floured surface until very, very thin (think pasta). Cut into rounds with a 2-inch cutter, and fill each circle with about 2 teaspoons of filling. Brush the edges with water, and fold the edges together to form a half circle shape. Pull the edges together and press to seal into a tortellini-like shape. Follow the same instructions for freezing and serving, though you may need to cook a bit longer due to the larger size.

Red & Blue Velvet Cake Ice Cream

So did you make cake for the Fourth? Did you eat it all?

I hope you did, or at least shared with friends, but what about those cake scraps? You know, the trimmings from leveling the cake, or that extra layer I told you to save for snacks, or, if you decided to be ambitious after all and try your hand at rendering the American Flag in dessert form, you probably have a pile of blue and red velvet cake pieces that you don’t know what do you with.

Based on the levels of food dye you’ve likely consumed while living your best red, white and blue life, I should probably tell you to just toss those. But, really, they are delicious and what a waste of sugar and butter, right? And anyway, isn’t it so fun to have to remember what you ate every time you go to the bathroom, to reassure yourself that those strange colors don’t mean you are dying?

(If you’ve ever eaten blue food dye, you know what I’m talking about. Also, sorry I brought the bathroom into this.)

If you want to keep living on that knife edge of red and blue dye, I have a solution for you! Take some of those scraps and toss them into a freshly made batch of cream cheese ice cream!!!

Ta daaaaa!

It’s genius. You get the flavors of that red and blue velvet cake and cream cheese frosting, but in ice cream form, and you are minimizing food waste at the same time. What good citizens we are! You can even sub in the scraps from that simpler cake I told you about last week, and I promise it will be equally delicious with cream cheese flavor. There is no losing here.

And, should you be wondering what red, white and blue occasion you could have coming up to pull this out for? Whip up a batch and serve it up on Sunday for the World Cup final! I think it would make an excellent celebration for those American ladies kicking ass in France right now.

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Red & Blue Velvet Cake Ice Cream

Cream cheese ice cream base adapted from Bravetart

For the ice cream:

• 8 oz cream cheese

• 5 large egg yolks

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/8 tsp kosher salt

• 1 cup whole milk

• 1/2 cup heavy cream

• 1 tbs vanilla

• 1 tbs fresh lemon juice

• leftover cake red & blue velvet cake scraps or any bits of cake or cookie you prefer

1. Place the cream cheese in the bowl of a mixer and beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed until soft and fluffy. In a medium-sized pot over medium-low heat, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and salt, then the milk and the cream. Cook, stirring constantly, until the custard is steaming and hot. This should take about 8 minutes. Pour the custard through a mesh sieve over the cream cheese , add the vanilla and lemon juice and mix on low speed to combine.

2. Cool the custard and cream cheese mixture to room temperature, chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

3. When ready to churn, pour the custard into your ice cream maker and churn according to the machine instructions. While ice cream is churning, chill whatever container you plan to store the ice cream in the freezer (I use a loaf pan).

4. When the ice cream is churned up, add crumbled pieces of cake to the mixture and churn for a few seconds to combine. Layer into the chilled container with more crumbled pieces of cake and chill until firm. Serve and enjoy!

A Simpler Cake for the Fourth

Hi!

We’ve got America’s most red, white & blue day coming up next week, and probably also some socializing or outdoor BBQ-ing and celebrating, so let’s make some cake, shall we?

Don’t worry, though, I realized last year the limits of my capacity for digesting blue food dye and for my patience levels, so I won’t be revisiting the flag cake. I think that’s a once-every-five-years kind of project for me. No, this year, I wanted something a little simpler.

For that, I dove back into my archives, and updated the easiest funfetti cake ever with a patriotic twist! Red, white, and blue star-shaped sprinkles exist, and they went into and atop this cake, along with swirls of red and blue tinted frosting, all tied together in an easy to cut (and assemble), rectangular package. Gotta sneak that flag shape in there somehow!

As for the frosting, I was going for a sort of ombre effect of red to white to blue, but I layered the red into the piping bag first. As you can see from the photos, the red really makes itself known! But I promise it still tasted delicious, and that’s the point of cake, right? So, since this cake is so dead simple to make, have fun, play a little, and if it doesn’t come out perfectly the way you planned, well, neither did America, so eat it anyway!

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Red, White & Blue Sprinkle Cake

Cake layers adapted from Christina Tosi.

For the cake:

• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened to room temp

• 1/3 cup vegetable shortening

• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 3 tbs, tightly packed, light brown sugar

• 3 eggs

• 1/2 cup buttermilk

• 1/3 cup grapeseed oil

• 2 tsp clear imitation vanilla

• 2 cups cake flour

• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 3/4 tsp kosher salt

• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbs red, white & blue sprinkles (see note)

For the swiss meringue buttercream:

• 4 egg whites

• 1 1/4 cup sugar

• 3 sticks butter, unsalted, room temp

• 1 tsp clear imitation vanilla

For assembly:

• 1/4 cup milk

• 1 tsp clear imitation vanilla

• more sprinkles, for decorating

1. Bake the cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a quarter sheet pan with cooking spray and line with parchment. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter, shortening, and sugars and beat on medium-high for 2-3 minutes, scraping down as needed, and then add the eggs and beat another 2-3 minutes on medium-high.

3. Turn the mixer to low and pour in buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract. With speed on medium-high, beat for 4-6 minutes, until the mixture is very, very pale, almost white, and almost doubled in size. When you see no more streaks of fat or liquid in the batter, it is ready for the dry ingredients. Add the cake flour, baking powder and salt, as well as the 1/4 cup of sprinkles, and mix for no more than a minute, just until everything comes together.

4. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared cake pan and then sprinkle with remaining sprinkles. Bake 30-35 minutes, until puffed and no longer jiggling in the middle. Cool cake completely in the pan, on a wire rack.

5. Make the frosting: Set bowl of mixer over a pot of simmering water, and add the egg whites and sugar and whisk to combine. Continue whisking until sugar dissolves and mixture is very warm to the touch, or reached 160 degrees on an instant read thermometer.

6. Transfer bowl to stand mixer and beat egg white mixture with the whisk attachment on high speed to stiff but not dry peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, 6 minutes.

7. Switch to the paddle attachment and beat on medium-low speed, adding the butter a bit at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and then beat on low speed for about 2 minutes more, to reduce any air bubbles.

8. To assemble: using a ruler or other straightedge as a guide, cut the cooled cake into quarters (you can stack all four layers or freeze one for later use or snacking, as I did). Place your first quarter onto a cake plate or decorating stand.

9. In a small bowl, mix together the milk and vanilla, then brush 1/3 of the mixture onto the cake layer. Spoon a layer of frosting over the soaked cake, then sprinkle with a few more sprinkles. Top with the next cake layer and repeat. Top with remaining cake layer, brush on remaining milk soak, and then frost the cake as desired. You should have enough frosting to fully cover and do some fun piping if you want. Top with more sprinkles and enjoy!

Notes:

• I used these sprinkles

• For the ombre or multi-colored piping effect, dye some of your frosting to desired hues of red and blue, about 1/4-1/2 cup for each color. Layer with remaining white frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star tip, and pipe swirls to your heart’s content.