Spaetzle

To be made with Sauerbraten...



Mix together 3 cups flour, 2 eggs, 1 cup cold water and 1/4 tsp nutmeg. Beat well with a fork, then put the batter into the fridge for at least 3 hours – the chilling is the secret to good spaetzle. When wanted, put on a platter, hold the platter slightly tipped over a pot of rapidly boiling salted water, and cut with a spoon into tiny pieces as the batter slips over the platters edge. Boil covered until tender. These are perfect with any good brown gravy.

I made these to go with Sauerbraten. They were from the same cookbook (more about the book on the sauerbraten posting).

When I was younger I had spaetzle at a restaurant. I loved it so much. They were these tiny chewy pasta-ish things just bigger then macaroni.

This was not like that at all. These were huge blob-y and long dumplings. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Actually they were really great for anything that has tons of sauce, because they are like big sauce wearing pillows. I kind of loved them.

As for making them, there is probably a bit of a learning curve. I have a feeling that next time I make them, it will be really easy. Here’s an important tip though, the dough is like a big blob of superglue. Don’t try to do anything with it with your hands, you’ll just have to put the whole thing down and wash up and start over. The best method that I found was puting it all on a plate, and then cutting off the thinnest stripe I could with a good sharp steak knife. In one motion kind of cut it and send it over the edge of the plate into the water (this will make sense while you are doing it I think). Then cut it off if one end is still hanging on. Then I just cooked them for a couple of minutes. Just test one, they shouldn’t be too water-y, but they shouldn’t be uncooked in the middle either. I got the feeling there was a bit of leeway with the timing. Basically I would get a whole batch in. Put everything down, wash my hands, and then find the slotted spoon, and they were ready to be taken out.

I dig German food, and this was fun. I have no idea how close to traditional this is, but it was tasty. I think I might have to look into more German foods in the future.