Swiss-Style Vegetarian: Courgette and Tomato Soup with Gruyere Dumplings

One day after returning home from Switzerland I had a cheese craving induced by thoughts of the malakoffs I had eaten in Luins a few days earlier. Sadly, all that was left in the refrigerator was a large bag of courgettes, one egg, leftover cooked polenta and a can of tomatoes. How could I make that go with the gruyere I brought back?

Since the chef at the Auberge de Luins had kindly given me the recipe for malakoff, I realized I had the ingredients to make my own version. However after making the dough, I didn't feel like eating deep fried food and wondered about alternative cooking strategies. Dumplings were the obvious choice. To make it even healthier I decided to make a vegetable soup in which to cook them. Courgette and tomato soup with gruyere dumplings started to sound good.

Courgette and Tomato Soup

Ingredients

6 courgettes

1 large onion

1x400g can peeled tomatoes

Vegetable stock

Cracked black pepper

Fresh chives

Grate the raw courgettes including the skin. Finely chop the onion then sauté in a little olive oil in a saucepan. Add the grated courgette and the can of tomatoes including the juice. Cook in a litre of vegetable stock until courgette is cooked but not too soft; around 20 minutes. Leaving the skin on the courgettes gives an interesting
texture to the soup.

While the soup is simmering, make the dumplings. A method for making the dumplings as provided to me by the chef at the Auberge de Luins and photos can be found here. However below is a modified method I used to suit this soup.

Gruyere Dumplings

Ingredients

200g gruyere cheese

1 egg

2 small cups cooked polenta

I used cold cooked polenta for this recipe, but use around half a cup of dried fine to medium grain polenta and cook in simmering water for 15 to 20 minutes or until thickened. Cool the polenta and add the egg to make a smooth paste. Grate the cheese and mix through evenly. The dough should be soft yet able to hold its shape. Form small dumplings about the size of a golf ball. Lower them slowly into the gently simmering soup. Cook the dumplings in the soup for about 10 minutes; they will rise to the surface when they are ready. Handle the dumplings carefully even when they are cooked. Serve immediately and sprinkle with fresh chopped chives, or basil.