Cheese-Stuffed Dumplings + Pesto and Roasted Asparagus – soft dumplings stuffed with melted mozzarella cheese, topped with pesto and roasted asparagus – this will quickly become your favorite meatless meal!
Whoa – you guys – these things are amazing! I kind of went out on a limb with this one. Absolutely no idea what I was doing and somehow it came together just perfectly. This is officially my current favorite meatless meal….
Do you guys remember my Meatballs and Dumplings recipe? (it just happened to be the most popular post of 2016…) Well, I got this idea in my head to try and stuff those same dumplings with cheese. So…. I pulled up my Meatballs and Dumplings recipe and made a batch of the dumpling dough. Then, I divided the dough into 4 sections. I took one of the four sections and made to small “pancakes” out of them. I placed one “pancake” on my hand….
Then I grabbed a chunk of mozzarella and placed it in the middle of the pancake…
Then I took the second “pancake” and placed it on top of the mozzarella and formed it into a ball.
Voila. (Sorry for the ugly pictures….)
Since I was serving them with pesto, which you don’t want to put in a pot and bring to a simmer (it would burn), I opted to just steam the dumplings. I took my pasta pot and filled the bottom with water – just enough so that it was below the insert. I sprayed the pasta insert with non-stick spray and placed the dumplings on top. I covered and let the water simmer/boil for 12-14 minutes.
Yes. It does look weird. I was thinking the same thing. But this was before they were cooked…. if that makes you feel better…
About the same time you can roast your asparagus and then immediately mix with your pesto, which will warm the pest up too.
Serve the dumplings over the pesto/asparagus – drizzle with some olive oil and garnish with some chunks of fresh parmesan cheese. So, so good.
I can’t get over how good this was! I need to come up with more ideas like this….
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Cheese-Stuffed Dumplings
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 2–4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
Description
Cheese-Stuffed Dumplings + Pesto and Roasted Asparagus – cheesy stuffed dumplings served with pesto and asparagus! So delicious!
Ingredients
- 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
- 2 Teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk (almond milk works perfectly)
- 2 Tablespoons oil (canola or vegetable)
- (1) 8oz mozzarella ball
- (1) 8oz jar basil pesto
- 1 bunch of asparagus (tough ends chopped off; remaining asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces)
- olive oil
- salt
- fresh parmesan cheese chunks (for garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Combine flour, baking powder, salt and milk in mixing bowl and mix together until it forms a dough.
- Divide dough into 4 equal parts.
- Take one part and divide that in half again – forming to small “pancakes”
- Put one “pancake” on your hand and then take approximately 1-2 Tablespoons of mozzarella and place in the center.
- Take the second “pancake” and place on top.
- Gently bring the two “pancakes” together to form a ball with the mozzarella at the center.
- Repeat with the remaining 3 chunks of dough.
- Once you have 4 balls of dough, take a pasta pot (with the insert with holes in it) and add enough water so that when you put the insert in, the water is just below it.
- Spray the insert with non-stick.
- Place the insert in the pot and put the dumplings inside the insert.
- Bring the water to a simmer and cover for 12 minutes.
- The dumplings will be done when they are fairly firm to the touch.
- While the dumplings are steaming, put your asparagus chunks in a small bowl and drizzle about 1 Tablespoon olive oil on top and 1 Teaspoon kosher salt; toss to coat.
- On foil-lined baking sheet, spread out asparagus.
- Roast for about 5-7 minutes, or until asparagus is tender (feel free to do it longer if you want a more charred asparagus).
- As soon as the asparagus comes out of the oven, combine it with your basil pesto and set aside, keeping warm.
- When you dumplings are done, carefully remove from pan (I used a flexible spatula).
- Place your desired amount of asparagus/pesto in shallow bowl and then add 2 dumplings.
- Drizzle with olive oil and garnish with chunks of fresh parmesan cheese.
- (depending upon if this is a main dish or first course, you could serve 1 or 2 dumplings per person)
- Serve immediately.
John Rhoe says
Unique and good work! I have this on my special dinner list and figure on feeding Kieth, Virgil, Jamie and Katy. Sounds like a dinner party to me!