Spätzle – a traditional Swabian noodle dish
As someone born in Stuttgart and dedicated to sharing my favorite recipes with you on this blog, there really is no choice for me but to mention “Spätzle”. It is almost impossible to finde a good translation as they are not really comparable to Italian pasta or “thimble dumplings” (as suggested in a dictionary) – all I can say is that they are made of a combination of egg and flour like normal pasta, but taste heartier and are squishier than their Italian relatives. It is pretty easy to prepare them using “modern” techniques and for the different alternatives I would like to recommend this video of 2 Stuttgart comic icons:
I do hope you enjoyed the taste of the Swabian dialect! Translated, the alternatives are the following:
Grate
Press
Cut
Form
Shake
or just buy them (if you won’t tell anybody)
I have personally never tried to cut, form or shake them. If you use a form to push them through you probably end up with lots of little buttons instead of long strands. And since I prefer them long, this method is not for me. If you use a special Spätzle press the portions are quickly made and in my opinion this is the quickest and easiest method.
It doesn’t really matter which method you want to use. The dough can be easily handled with all the different techniques. And I am happy to show you in the coming days a few recipes how you can pair your Spätzle. Though I could also just eat them plain.
Recipe – Spätzle
Amount: 4 portions
Prep time: 30 minutes
Recipe from the great book: Die Schwäbische Küche
400 g wheat flour
1 Tsp salt
4 eggs
125 ml sparkling water
Add 400 g flour to a bowl and mix with 1 Tsp salt.
Then add the 4 eggs and 125 ml sparkling water and stir well with a wooden spoon until the dough forms little bubbles. If it seems too tough add a bit more sparkling water.
Bring about 2 Liters of water with salt to a boil in a big pot.
Place a sieve in a fitting bowl and a ladle next to the pot.
Now add the Spätzle-dough portion by portion to the bubbling cooking water (using your chosen method – see above). As soon as the Spätzle are floating on top of the water place them with the ladle into the sieve (the bowl underneath makes sure that the water won’t drip everywhere). Now chill them in the sieve under cold running water so they won’t stick together and let drain.
Repeat until all of the dough is used up.
You can then use the Spätzle for example in:
Lentils with Spätzle and Sausages (Recipe),
Gaisburger Marsch (a hearty stew; Recipe),
Cheese-Spätzle (Recipe), or
as a side dish for meals with lots of sauce.
The homemade Spätzle will store well for 3 days in the fridge or could be kept in the freezer.