Tour of the Fifty States: North Dakota's Meal

North Dakota, being a cold state that needs warm and hearty meals, has Knoephla as the signature dish, which is Potato Soup with Dumplings.  North Dakota had a significant settlement of  German emigrants from the Russian Empire. 

Menu: Knoephla, tossed salad, warm bread, and Peach Kuchen
Outcome:  This went over really well, and we even had leftovers for work!

The finished soup

For dessert we had a Peach Kuchen (also from German settlers), which is an easy cake to prepare, topped with peach slices. You can substitute any other fruit for the Kuchen.

Assemble your ingredients

Peach Kuchen right out of the oven

This was great!  Everyone really liked it.
Next up:  Matthew selected Nevada! 

Knoephla (Potato Dumpling Soup)

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ½ cup milk
• 2 Tbsp. cooking oil
• 3-1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 1.8 oz. white sauce mix
• 4 medium potatoes, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 cup diced cooked ham
• 12 oz. can evaporated milk
• ½ tsp. ground white or black pepper
• ¼ cup snipped fresh parsley

 Directions

1. For dumplings: In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center of the mixture. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the egg, milk and oil. Add to the flour mixture; mix well. Cover; set aside.
2. For soup: In a 4-quart Dutch oven, gradually stir chicken broth into white sauce mix until mixture is smooth. Stir in potatoes, onion, ham, evaporated milk and pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Drop rounded teaspoons of dough into the soup (don’t worry if dumplings touch). Return to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes more or until potatoes are tender and a toothpick inserted near the center of a dumpling comes out clean. Sprinkle with parsley.

Makes 10 side-dish servings (10 cups).

Peach Kuchen

 Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg or cinnamon
• ¼ cup butter
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ½ cup milk
• 2 cups sliced fresh peaches or frozen unsweetened peach slices, thawed and well drained on paper towels
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. light corn syrup
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 1 tsp. lemon juice

Directions

1. Grease and flour a 9x9x2-inch baking pan. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Using a pastry blender, cut in the ¼ cup butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in center of flour mixture. In a small bowl, combine egg and milk. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy).
3. Spread batter into prepared pan. Halve any large peach slices. Arrange peach slices in a single layer on top of batter.
4. For topping, in a small saucepan, combine brown sugar, corn syrup, the 1 Tbsp. butter and the lemon juice. Bring to boiling. Quickly drizzle over peach slices.
5. Bake in a 350F oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 20 minutes.

Makes 9 servings.