Here’s an extremely versatile dish for you that comes from Switzerland. Essentially, it is a relatively easy to make homemade pasta (once you get the hang of it), and it can be used as a side dish for nice saucy dishes like Rehgeschnetzeltes (Venison in a red wine cream sauce), Sausage Stuffed Sweet Peppers (with Alpkäse Sauce), or Chicken Schnitzel in Zweibelsauce.
However, it can also be turned into a hearty main course by sauteing in a little butter and mixing in various ingredient combinations. A few dishes that we are particularly fond of are Cordon Bleu Spätzlipfanne and Spätzli mit Gemüse und Speck. Either way, once you make this, you’ll have a lot of fun finding new ways to incorporate it into your meal rotation.
Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients: (amounts are to make 2 side dish portions)
- 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
- 1 egg
- 1/8 cup of milk (or water, but milk is better if you’ve got it)
- A pinch of salt
- A pinch of pepper (white or black)
- You will also need a colander with medium sized holes and a spatula for this particular recipe. IF you don’t have those, that’s okay…you can always take the dough on a cutting board, and “cut and flip” pieces into the water. But, the colander/spatula method is the way to go if you can.
Method:
- In a large pot, start heating some water with a pinch of salt in it
- While your water heats, mix your flour, a pinch of salt, and a little pepper together.
- Crack and beat an egg in another bowl, and then pour it into your flour mix, and stir to combine.
- Continue stirring as you slowly pour in your milk.
- You want the dough to come together smoothly and not be too thin (or it will fall apart in the water) and not too hard (or it won’t get through the colander holes). This is a delicate balance, and it’s the reason that I opened the first paragraph with a “Once you get the hang of it” parenthetical.
- Pour your dough into your colander, and holding it over your boiling water, run the spatula back and forth to drop Spätzli dumplings into the water.
- After a few minutes, when your Spätzli are floating at the top of the water, they are done boiling!
- Drain the Spätzli (I’m using a slotted spoon since my colandar is dirty).
- Either serve like this, or sautee your Spätzli in a little butter and add any other ingredients you wish!
- Plate, devour, and enjoy!
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