Pea Flour Dumplings

Method

For the dumplings:

1. In a large bowl, weigh out your dried breadcrumbs. Pour in an equal weight of boiling water, stir to combine, then cover the bowl (a suitably sized plate works well) and leave for at least half an hour. The crumbs should all be hydrated now, and the mixture a little like uncrisped sage and onion stuffing, pinch through with your fingers to make sure there aren’t any dry centres. If there are, leave it for longer.
2. Now weigh in an equal amount of the yellow pea flour, and stir it thoroughly through until the mixture resembles shaggy, floury crumble. With a cautious hand, add about two more splashes of water and mix through, so that it comes together into a very stiff dough. A bit like making shortcrust, it is helpful in the last stages to empty out onto a clean work surface and knead together with your hands.
3. Taking the combined dough, cut it into manageable chunks of about a fist. Use your hands and the work surface to shape and roll a chunk into a long rope of about 1 inch wide, then slice this up at 1 inch intervals into little dumplings. Transfer dumplings to a floured plate or tray and complete with the rest of the dough. You can freeze the dumplings at this point.
4. To cook the dumplings, bring a pan of water to the boil. Add the dumplings (in batches if necessary, to not overwhelm the pan) and boil for 5-6 minutes, until tender through. Dumplings cooked from frozen will take 6-7 minutes.
   

For the saucy courgettes:

1. In a wide frying pan, heat a generous glug of olive oil. Crush in the garlic clove and grind in your black pepper (a lot is good here). Stir and sizzle for about a minute, until very fragrant, then stir through the sliced courgettes along with a big pinch of salt. Turn up the heat and cook for a few minutes until the courgettes are beginning to soften and steam, just to get things going, then lower the heat and allow to cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes, until the courgettes are soft and flavourful. (You can cook for longer if you like — things will only break down to become softer, saucier, and more delicious.) Now mix in the sliced spring onions and frozen peas.
2. Set a saucepan of water to boil, and cook your dumplings as above. Meanwhile, grate your parmesan onto a plate so it is all ready to go.
3. When dumplings are ready, remove with a slotted spoon into the courgette pan, allowing some starchy cooking water to come too. Tip in the parmesan, then beat together with the dumplings and vegetables into a sauce, add more cooking water as necessary.
4. Divide into bowls, finish with big squeezes of lemon juice, and eat.