Whew! Ok, this was a challenge only in finding the time and brain energy to make and post this recipe. This month’s challenge was the make any style of pasta/noodle without the use of motorized tools. I have always wanted to make pasta, so needless to say, I was very excited about this challenge. A few months ago, my husband and I joined our friends, to celebrate a birthday at a German restaurant. I had never been to a German restaurant and not being a big fan of sausages, did not find the majority of the food appealing. I did try a few dishes that were absolutely delicious (non-sausage), so I would not give up on German food yet. One of the dishes I did try was buttered Spaetzle.
Oh My God! It was awesome. Such a simple dish of noodles with butter but the flavor and texture was wonderful. It is a type of egg noodle that is more like a mini dumpling than a noodle. I have seen many recipes and it takes many different shapes. Since then, I have been wanting to go back to that restaurant, only to have more of this dish. This challenge was the perfect opportunity to make it myself. What did I find? It was incredibly easy to make and very quick. I am definitely making this again.
For my challenge I made Gruyère Spaetzle with Caramelized Shallots. I adapted a recipe from The Food Network.
Spaetzle goodness!
Ingredients:
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1/8 (dash) teaspoon of ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk (plus extra)
3-4 shallots, sliced thin
1 cup of Gruyère Cheese, shredded
about 3 tablespoons of butter
Dried or chopped parsley, to garnish.
Directions:
- Set a large pot of salted water to boil.
- Combine flour, salt, pepper, nutmeg, eggs and milk and mix until well blended. You should have a pourable but not too thin batter.
- Allow batter to rest for 10-15 minutes.
- In the meantime, caramelize shallots, in a large pan, with 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter and set aside.
- Check your batter, if it has gotten too thick, add a little more milk
- If pot of water is boiling, lower the temperature to a simmer.
- To make spaetzle, hold a colander or food mill over the pot of simmering water.
- Place a portion of batter into the colander and with a spoon (of handle), scrap the batter through the holes in the colander. This will make small long bits of batter.
- When the spaetzle is floating in the water (give it a stir so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot) remove and run under cold water to stop the cooking process.
- After all the spaetzle is made, place the spaetzle with the caramelized shallots and coat with butter (You may need to add more butter)
- Turn on the stove to medium and stirring every few minutes, brown the spaetzle.
- When the spaetzle is brown to your liking, lower heat and add your cheese, mixing well.
- Sprinkle with parsley and serve!
I would especially like to thank Steph from Stephfood for hosting this challenge. It was a wonderful challenge and my family really enjoyed it. Thank you very much!
Blog-checking lines:
Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks‟ July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!
