Spätzli

[Jikoni]

I usually buy [FONT=arial,sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Spätzli in the supermarket. I rarely make it at home, but I am always lost as to how it's really served, what accompaniment do you use? It always feels so dry with a steak on the side or a chicken piece. Any ideas?
[/SIZE][/FONT]

 

[Alix]

Hey Jikoni, is that the little bits of pasta stuff? I can never spell or pronounce it correctly. I have found that if you butter it up and put some parmesan with it...YUM!

 

[flukx]

In Germany its common to serve spaetzle with some kind of meat (usually pork), a gravy, and lentils. Otherwise, make kaesespaetzle (cheese spaetzle)! Really just spaetzle with cheese mixed in and baked for a bit.

 

[cara]

Spaetzle soup... a clear chicken broth with spaetzle in it..

flukx, spaetzle with lentils!??!?!
for the rest I agree with you...

I have a simple Spaetzle recipe for you, so you don't need to buy this dry stuff..

per person
1 egg
100g flour
sparkling mineral water

make a smooth dough, let it rest some time

and for the making a quote

Congratulations TanyaK - excellent choices. Actually spatzel is very easy to make. I don't have one of those spatzel makers so I do it the old way, lather the dough on the back of a cookie sheet and with a metal egg turner flip little pieces off into boiling water. Not too many, need to experiment so they are all reasonably together in each "flipping". Put on a chef show for yourself after you have practiced one.

 

[giggler]

spetzle..

My mother's way was heavy cinamin, light on butter...

this goes well with meat, as it's not sweet...

Eric, Austin Tx.

 

[BreezyCooking]

You know, believe it or not, the very first time I had spaetzle was in a frozen "Green Giant" preparation. I don't think they make it anymore because I haven't seen it in years, but when "boil-in-the-bag" vegetable combos first became popular, Green Giant had one called "Green Beans and Spaetzle" & it was pretty much the only frozen veggie combo I really liked. It was cut green beans (obviously), with spaetzle (& they WERE actually spaetzle-type little noodles), along with a few bacon bits & the infamous fake "butter sauce". I'm sure it would be really easy to duplicate.

 

[cara]

I know most likely you don't understand anything.. but... try this page

 

[justplainbill]

I know most likely you don't understand anything.. but... try this page

Thanks for the link Cara. It's pretty comperhensive. The tip about making a thicker dough may be just what we need to make my wife's Gefu spätzle machine work better. Unfortunately she likes the spätzle smaller and I like them bigger (something to chew on). We also have a board and it looks like I'll have to start making them myself since I think fresh pasta is much better than dried stuff, especially with goulasch and paprikash.

 

[jabbur]

I usually melt butter and add bread crumbs to the butter then add the noodles to the buttered bread crumbs. Occasionally a little Parmesan cheese but usually just butter and bread crumbs is the way we like it.

 

[flukx]

I dont mean cook the lentils IN the spätzle, only serve as another side dish, i.e. sausages or pork (and gravy) with spätzle and linsen on the side. Very common...

 

[Michelemarie]

I serve this with a pork dish that I make with a cranberry gravy - yum!

 

[cara]

I dont mean cook the lentils IN the spätzle, only serve as another side dish, i.e. sausages or pork (and gravy) with spätzle and linsen on the side. Very common...

I must admit, I've never heard of that.. is it something typical berlinerisch?
My BIL makes almost perfect spaetzles, but he is a born swabian, so I think it's in his blood ;o)
I'll ask him about the lentils...

 

[flukx]

yeah the lentils are very common with spaetzle in Swabia as well. In Berlin you have to make the spaetzle yourself!

 

[cara]

In Hannover too.. but it's not that a hard work.. and I prefer them to the bought ones ;o)

 

[flukx]

Same here Cara

For those not familiar with the traditional process who are curious, it really isnt difficult to make spaetzle without the machine, in fact its quite fun I think. I have used two different types of "machines". One is like a potato ricer which makes long strands. The other is like a cheese grater with a sliding "box" on the top, but this makes small little teardrops (which are actually more like Knoepfli, not Spaetzle).

The authentic (and best) way is to flick the batter into boiling water as it slides down the cutting board (which means it should be thick, but still liquidy enough to ever so slowly slide down the board - thicker than, say, pancake batter in the USA, but not quite as thick as, say, peanut butter - somewhere in between). You can use a knife to do the "flicking" but a tool similar to a pastry scraper works best, I think (easier to handle).

The tool I mean looks something like this:

You can see a video of what I mean here: YouTube - Spaetzle schaben

 

[lindatooo]

Our family favorite is Veal Shanks braised with veggies and spaetzli (I never spell it right either). Come to think of it it's time to do that again!