Cotswold dumplings with tomato sauce
Makes: 16 dumplings
Serves: 4
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph Myles New
Cotswold dumplings with tomato sauce
Cotswold dumplings make a delicious, cheap meal and are a good way to use up stale bread and leftover cheese
Makes: 16 dumplings
Serves: 4
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
See more recipes
Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
543Kcal
Fat
35gr
Saturates
17gr
Carbs
36gr
Sugars
10gr
Fibre
3gr
Protein
19gr
Salt
1.6gr
Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, in her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, in her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
Ingredients
- 40g soft butter
- 125g Double Gloucester* or mature cheddar*, grated
- 4 spring onions, finely chopped
- 2 medium eggs, beaten
- 2 tbsp milk
- 175g slightly stale bread, blitzed into crumbs
- 40g dried breadcrumbs
- vegetable oil, to fry
- rocket, to serve (optional)
For the tomato sauce
- 1 onion, halved
- 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 30g butter
- 1 tsp caster sugar
Step by step
- Beat the butter, cheese and spring onions together in a mixing bowl to make a paste. Mix in the eggs and milk then stir in the fresh breadcrumbs and seasoning, until you have a fairly stiff paste. Shape into 16 balls using damp hands, place on a plate and chill for at least 30 minutes for the breadcrumbs to absorb the moisture (it also helps prevent the dumplings from bursting open during cooking).
- For the sauce, put the onion, tomatoes, butter, sugar and seasoning in a saucepan. Partially cover, bring to a simmer and bubble gently for 30 minutes.
- Put the dried breadcrumbs on a plate and roll the dumplings in the crumbs to coat. Heat about 5cm depth of oil in a pan, to 180°C (a cube of bread should take about 1 minute to turn golden). Fry the dumplings in batches for 3-4 minutes until crisp and golden. Drain on kitchen paper.
- Blitz the sauce with a handheld blender, keeping it a bit chunky, and serve with the dumplings, and rocket if you wish. If you have leftovers, the cooked dumplings can be frozen, then reheated in a medium oven for 15 minutes straight from the freezer, until piping hot. The sauce can also be frozen. *Use vegetarian cheese, if required.
