Poppy Dumplings By Eckart Witzigmann

Pour 500 ml (approximately 2 cups) of red wine into a pot. Remove peel from 1 lemon and 1 orange in thick strips, then squeeze out the juice of the lemon and orange. Add to the pot along with the cinnamon sticks and cloves. Bring a boil and cook until reduced by one-third. 

Pass the sauce through a sieve, season to taste with sugar and sweetener and let cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Combine the milk and honey in a pot. Halve the vanilla bean lengthwise and add to pot. Bring mixture to a boil.

Stir in the ground poppy seeds and cook over medium heat, stirring, until batter is thickened and pulls away from bottom of pan. Transfer to a bowl and let cool.

Rinse the remaining lemon and orange in hot water, wipe dry and finely grate the zest. 

Combine the citrus zests, ground cinnamon, butter and a pinch of salt in a bowl and beat until creamy with a hand mixer.

Beat in the whole egg and egg yolk until combined. 

Fold the bread cubes into the egg mixture and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Mix together the poppy batter and the bread mixture and refrigerate until chilled, about 25 minutes more.

Form the mixture into 8 dumplings with moistened hands. Place on a plate lined with plastic wrap and set aside.

Cut the remaining (zested) orange into thin slices.

Combine the orange slices, remaining red wine and a pinch each of salt and sugar in a pot and bring to a boil.