Mushroom dombolo (dumplings)

First make the Dombolo dough – mix the flour, salt, sugar and yeast together. Add eggs and enough milk to make a soft but not sticky dough. (You should be able to still knead the dough, but do not want it to be too dry).  Knead well for about 5 minutes.  Place in a large, lightly oiled plastic bag and set aside in a warm place to rise until doubled in size.

In the meantime heat a little oil in a saucepan (preferably a black cast iron pot with a tight fitting lid ) and fry about 300g of the mushrooms until quite dry.  Remove and set aside to add to the dumpling mixture.

In the same pan, fry the onions until light brown – set aside. Flash fry the remaining 300g of mushrooms until nice and brown – set aside.  Fry remaining vegetables.  Set aside.

Toss the meat in the seasoned flour, add a little extra oil to the pan if necessary and fry the meat until well browned.  Return onions and vegetables (not the mushrooms) to the saucepan and stir in the  stock and the tomato paste.  Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and stew gently for 1 ½ hours or  until the meat is quite soft.  Add remaining mushrooms and continue cooking for a further 30 minutes on a low heat until the sauce has thickened (Should you need to add more liquid, do so, but always watch the consistency. You want to end up with about two cups of nicely thickened gravy that surrounds the meat and vegetables – the dumplings need some liquid to soak up. The meat stew could also be prepared in advance).

Dumplings: Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead gently working  the reserved 300g mushrooms into the dough. Wet your hands and make billiard ball sized dough dumplings. Place close together on top of the meat stew. Place lid back on tightly and cook very gently for another 20 minutes.

Note: 250ml red wine can be substituted for 250ml stock