My little dumplings of love: a spaetzle recipe
Did you think I was kidding?
Yesterday I ra
I mentioned being burned out on writing in my blog and said, “Don’t be surprised if you find a spaetzle recipe next time you visit.” Given the overwhelming response by my readers — for surely two requests indicates an overwhelming response — people want that recipe. Well, I aim to please.
I was born in California but raised in Appalachia. This means that I may briefly consider grilled tempeh with a glass of wheat grass juice for dinner, but in the end I’ll go for bread, mashed potatoes, noodles — sometimes all at once. Country carbs, take me home. Even though I don’t remember having spaetzle until I was into adulthood, it does seem like something I’d commit violent acts to obtain enjoy, doesn’t it? Light little buttery dumplings, good under chicken paprikash or cut into chicken soup if there are no noodles around.
First, you will probably need that thing in the picture
Spaetzle for Six
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup butter
1. Place flour and salt in a large bowl.
2. Cut cold butter into chunks and cut into the flour/salt mixture. (I use a pastry cutter. I also imagine people I don’t like very much.)
3. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs lightly. Add the milk and water, then fold into the flour mixture. It will be a very soft dough. You might swear a little when it sticks to your hands and you go to the sink to wash it off but forget that you just ran scalding hot water a few minutes ago to clean up the mess that those pigs that you live with made all over the kitchen table, and Oh God it burns, but that’s OK. Swearing is good for your lungs.
4. Use a grating motion to cut the dough into a pot of boiling water or chicken broth. This is kind of hard to imagine until you see the spaetzle making tool. I will try to edit this later with photos or video. I wonder if you could use a box grater? Anyone want to try that and report back to me? I would do it except that I already have the spaetzle maker. And I don’t want to.
5. The dumplings are done when they rise to the top of the liquid. It takes very little time. By the time you’ve applied aloe to your hands, everyone should be ready to eat.
Note: There are affiliate links in this post, so if you click on them and then make a purchase at Amazon, I get a percentage of the sale. I’m supposed to tell you that.
I learned how to cook spaetzle at a class at a high-end cooking store in Portland’s Peal District a year ago. We squeezed the dough through the bottom of a colander, which made a huge mess, but yummy spatzle. I made it for my family & it was a huge hit. Thanks for helping me remember that it’s time to make it again.
Michelle
I can do this. The dough sounds too soft to go through a box grater without a lot of sweating and swearing by me. What if I roll the dough into a very skinny snake and cut itsy bitsys off? Would that make the results be too tough. If I’m ambitious tomorrow, I’ll make some for dinner. Thanks for the recipe and the laughs reading it.
Again with the appalachia. First Mr. R and now you,Tara. I must protest this blatant regional bigotry.
I think you owe it to your readers to let them know that while you were raised in Appalachia,(actually,the far western suburbs,not downtown)the life-style here was not that different from anywhere else. We had indoor plumbing. All of our front yard cars had 4 wheels.Going green meant we had asperagus for dinner. We only handled snakes on Tammy Faye’s birthday and for the most part,can trace our antecedents beyond cousin Lenny.
I feel better getting that off my chest.I could go on but gotta go to work early. We’re grilling out tonight and no… it doesn’t have tire tracks and a prehensel tail.
Love
Dad
I have never had this in my life- so it might be interesting to try.
Michelle, a colander is a great idea!
Su-sieee, please try that and let me know.
Dad, what’s wrong with being Appalachian? I know I didn’t say anything against it.It seems to be a carb-y food culture, which I happen to like. If I were from northern Michigan, you can bet I’d make fun of the fact that I grew up eating something called “pasties.” In fact, I’m considering making fun of it anyway.
Mmmm, spaetlze is one of my favorites. It’s good homemade but the bags they sell at Aldi aren’t half-bad.
If eating carbs on your carbs with a side of carbs is an Appalachian thing, sign me up!
Tracy, I was thinking that I wouldn’t mind being Asian as well as Appalachian. Add rice to noodles and potatoes, wrap it in won tons, dip it in Panko, and deep fry. Heavenly.
Sorry.My comments were mainly because I was still somewhat indignant over item #11 of Mr.R’s list of 5/11. Not to mention I was depressed over not knowing what spaetzle was. What the hell is Panko?