Dumplings a different way

When I told my boyfriend that we were having dumplings for dinner, he was a bit surprised when I brought out these "Western-style" ones instead of the meat-filled Chinese type that we normally head to Box Hill to chow down. Fortunately, he wasn't disappointed and I've earmarked this recipe to make again - except I've lost the damn thing! Aaargh! I made this recipe about 2 weeks ago so there's a bit of vagueness trying to remember as much as I can to detail it here.

• Jamie Oliver's Beef Stew with Herb Dumplings (The Herald Sun Weekend lift-out August 2009)
  

Starting with celery, garlic and a bay leaf - cook slowly until softened.


Diced beef is added and browned:


Then in with beef stock and red wine - there's quite a decent amount in this. This is brought to the boil and then simmered on low for an extended period to tenderise the meat.


While that was cooking away, I proceeded to the dumplings. I used a tiny nutmeg grater to finely shave the butter into the flour - it does look beautiful, it's almost a shame that it has to be marred by mixing it in.


Adding parmesan cheese and chopped fresh herbs - I used rosemary and parsley.


Water is added now and there is some gauging required so that it becomes doughy enough to form into balls.


Once the stew was ready, the dumplings were delicately placed on top. They look small and insignificant, but they become nicely golden and raised later.


The interior of the dumplings are so light and flavoursome! No hint of heavy bread-iness and a great accompaniment to stew as it adds a completly new flavour with each bite, as well as balancing out the heavy wine intensity. They also don't get soggy too easily, so you can take your time without worrying that the dumplings will be swallowed up by the stew juices. Now I've just got to keep my fingers crossed that I haven't accidentally thrown that recipe out.