Ah, Spätzle, I love you so! I was first introduced to this dish when I did a German exchange one summer during junior high. This is German comfort food at it's best. Käsespätzle is what you order at a restaurant for kids, similar to mac-n-cheese here in America.
My favorite way to eat Spätzle is with some meat dish and gravy. I think it tastes delicious with Hungarian goulash.
Here in the states, I whip up this quick-to-make pasta most any time I need egg noodles. Though my family personally doesn't like these in chicken noodle soup, I think they would taste perfect there. We typically have our Spätzle with rotisserie chicken and gravy, or with pork chops and gravy, or with lamb stew, or with Swedish meatballs and gravy, or beef stroganoff. Notice a theme? Anything with some meat juices in it is a perfect excuse to make Spätzle.
And as I already said, they are SO easy to make.
Most German's I know that make Spätzle (because it can be bought in the store there, kinda like how you can buy fresh pasta in the refrigerated section at our grocery stores), have a Spätzle maker that looks like this. But my German friend explained to me that these types can often stick and seep over the edges, so aren't always the easiest to use. I actually wouldn't know because I was lucky enough to have chosen a different type of Spätzle maker during one of my visits to Germany. I'm not sure why I decided on this non-traditional one, but in hindsight, I'm super happy with it. It can easily go into the dishwasher, and the design is so simple: there aren't any moving parts to get stuck or broken.
I've heard that you can just as easily use a colander to make Spätzle. I assume you just hold the colander over the boiling water, drop in the dough and use a rubber spatula to scrape it through the holes into the water.
If that is what it takes for you to try Spätzle before you invest in a Spätzle maker, please try it! If you like egg noodles at all, I think you'll enjoy these - just be sure to put butter and gravy on them!
German Spätzle
Recipe adapted from the verbal instructions given to me by the mother of my dear German friend.
Ingredients:
300g unbleached flour (what, you don't have a kitchen scale!? For shame... I use mine every day. This is about 2.5 cups flour)
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
3 eggs
Start a large pot of water boiling. Measure the dry ingredients into one bowl and the wet into another. I always measure my milk into a Pyrex measuring cup and add the eggs to that. Beat the eggs and milk. Just as the water reaches a boil, salt the water and beat the milk/egg mixture into the flour/salt mixture until it is nice and smooth. Pour the batter into your Spätzle-maker/colander and strain through into the water. Once the Spätzle start to float and the water gets a bit frothy, the noodles are done (this is probably about 2 minutes on a briskly boiling pot). Drain noodles and put them back in the empty pot with a bit of butter. Stir. Serve with gravy (optional, but not really!).
And for those of you who are visual learners, here are some photos of the process:
Here are the ingredients... except I'm missing the salt for this picture. Whoops.
See how I crack the eggs into the milk... saves on doing dishes!
Here's my pot of water starting to boil (and a rotisserie chicken with those important juices for the gravy!)
My beloved Spätzle maker!
This is what the dough looks like when you first start to mix it together. Keep whipping it until it looks ...
like this. Smoother, and no lumps.
Pour the batter into your Spätzle maker or colander...
and press through the holes into the boiling water below.
Give it a stir.
About two minutes later, you'll see all the noodles floating on top and some nice bubbling... that is when it is time to drain the noodles.
Then, back into the pot with a pat of butter!
Lesson Learned:
How could I give you a recipe without sharing at least one lesson learned from my experience?
- All the stuff that has touched the batter (colander, bowl, fork)- wash it right away, or at least soak it and rub it down with your hands. If you let is sit on the counter to dry before doing the dishes, it is going to be a big ol' pain in the butt to scrub off the dried dough. Believe me, this is definitely a case where a stitch in time saves nine.
