Spätzle - Middle European noodles

I love to make fresh pasta, because it is tastier then the bought ones and because it is simple to make the dough. The only issue in making is that you need a pasta machine who cuts it out in the desired form. I don’t have an oven and for sure not a pasta machine, so I buy my pasta. But I do have an other option, a quick, easy and delicious one too!

One dish in middle Europe is well known, a noodle dish called Spätzle (translated meaning little sparrow). The origin of this dish is an endless debate between the German and Austrian regions, everyone is claiming that they invented it (very proud people!). It already starts with the Basic “real” recipe, everyone swears theirs is THE only one. To me it doesn’t matter as long as it is tasty and we all can enjoy this yummy dish. Since this dish seems to be totally unknown in the world I thought I would write a nice post to educate the world of new recipe and technique options.

To create quickly Spätzle noodles you will require something to “form” them. Traditionally the noodles are made by pressing dough through a wooden chopping board into a pot of boiling salt water, where they cook till they rise to the surface. Since this might be a bit tough, several devices were invented to facilate your home production. You have different options of “strainers” which you might be able to buy in your local market. You can use a hopper to grate or a noodle press or a strainer with big holes and a spatula to shred the dough into the pot. I use the later one right now, but when I didn’t have any type of strainers, and I couldn’t buy any around here, I had to use my own method by forming small spätzle with 2 teaspoons of the dough. This would take me ages to finish the dough and boil it, so I am glad to have my special strainer.

There are many different recipes for Spätzle, some include ingredients such as spinach, potatoes or cheese into the dough mix. There are no limits when creating your home made pasta. You can surely add in tomato paste for red spätzle or even squids ink to make them look black. I thought of better starting off with the basic recipe, because once the noodles are ready I fry them in butter with bacon and veggies and top it all with melting cheese, which I would consider a main course dish. You can keep the pasta plain too and serve it as side dish, for example with a meat gravy. We all have different taste preferences, like that you can custom change it to your needs and wants.

Spätzle- Serves 4

Dough:

1/2 kg White flour

Salt

2 Eggs

0,30 l Milk

1 Tsp Oil

Topping:

2 Tbs Butter

2 Onion – peeled, halved and cut into thin slices

5 Garlic cloves – peeled and chopped

2 Tomatoes – rinse and cut into small cubes

1/2 yellow Capsicum – seeded, rinsed and cut into small pieces

2-4 strips bacon

2 handfuls grated Cheese

Garnish with chives

In a mixing bowl combine the flour and the salt. Make a little whole in the middle and add in the eggs and some milk (not everything!). Start to mix the whole content with a spoon and add slowly more and more milk while keeping on mixing and beating. The end result should be a tough dough, test it with a spoon if the dough runs slowly off the spoon, then it is ready. Check the photo I made as reference.

Now keep a large pot filled with water and salt on medium heat. Take down the heat once it starts bubbling and wet your strainer with hot water so the dough wont stick that much. Place it on the pot and keep your spatula ready. Add a small batch of dough to the strainer and scrape the dough through the wholes into the pot. Do that first with half amount of the whole dough. Strain them once the Spätzle are swimming on top of the pot. Continue with the rest of the remaining dough till you have scraped it all and take them out once all cooked. This whole procedure might be a mess when you try it for the first time but once you have got it, its easy and quick to prepare. You just need practice!

The Spätzle can be frozen and fried again for an other days use or can be further processed as I did it, fried in butter, veggies , bacon and cheese. I like my bacon well fried, hard and without wobbly fat ( otally dislike fat pieces while chewing), so I fry that first in little butter on both sides till done but not burned. Keep the bacon aside and in the same pan add the 2 Tbs butter, melt it and add in the onion and garlic. Fry that till translucent and add in the Tomato and capsicum and keep on the heat till all is cooked well. On a cutting board cut the bacon strips into small pieces and add it to the Veggie mix with the Spätzle together. Mix into your dish the cheese and top it with cut chives to serve.

Have you ever tried Spätzle before?

Tagged as: European cuisine, noodles, pasta, spätzle

{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }

Joanne: I love making pasta but sometimes…I just get too lazy to whip out the pasta maker. This is the perfect alternative!

Aarthi: They look delicious..Thanks for posting it dear..

Aarthi
http://yummytummy-aarthi.blogspot.com/

Ganga Sreekanth: new to me…..perfectly done and looks delicious !
bookmarked

createwithmom: I haven't had this looks wonderful

Frugal in WV: I love homemade pasta, yum! Your pics look delicious as always

LifenSpice: Helene, you made it at home? Wonderful! I always buy mine at the supermarket and I love this!

Nami | Just One Cookbook: This pasta making process is so interesting and fascinating!! When I hear about making pasta, you know there is the big pasta machine… on the other hand, this is so compact and super cool! Very delicious looking pasta and looks very healthy!

Yuri - Chef Pandita: This looks like fun I've never made spätzle before but now I want to. Last week I made ravioli, hadn't make fresh pasta in almost 3 years. I'm making more ravioli this week, and will keep this spätzle in mind

Parsley Sage: Awesome! I didn't know spatzle was so easy to make from scratch I love spatzle. I spent 2 years in Germany and pretty much ate it at every meal. I miss it!

~~louise~~: I LOVE spatzle! I even made them once and they turned out to be a big gob of dough! I'll try your suggestions just once to see if I can do better. I better keep the recipe too:)

Thanks for sharing, Helene…

P.S. No OVEN???

Frieda: This looks delicious! I enjoyed the step-by-step photography. I haven't made Spatzle before…would like to add this to my to-do list

Helene Dsouza: @Joanne @Aarthi @Ganga thanks girls for passing by! Glad u all like the idea (thought so).

@Createwithmom you should realy try it. Its soo yummy!

@Frugal thank u I appreciate your compliment.

@Keethana @Nami Its totaly cool. My husband is a total Spätzle fan. He loves it too with gylasch (a popluar beef dish in hungary and austria).

@Yuri Ravioli are so delicious. I actualy should think of making some too! thanks for the idea. =D

@ParsleySage now u ll be able to make it yourself at home.

@louise happend to me once too, thats why I add little oil into the dough, so it wont clump. (u reminded me, I had forgotten to add the oil in the recipe, sorry for that).

PS that was more of a general joke not realy related to the pasta in particular.

@Frieda glad u enjoyed it! =)

Aarthi: WOW..I love this..Thanks for posting it Dear..

Aarthi
http://www.yummytummyaarthi.com/

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Spätzle – Middle European noodles

Spätzle- Serves 4

Have you ever tried Spätzle before?

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