Hey there readers!
So yesterday I decided I hadn’t made Spatzle in a very long time. More importantly the only things I had in my house were eggs, flour and a little bit of milk and am literally too broke to buy groceries until the end of the week (really winning at adult hood). Lucky for me spatzle is a delicious food you can make with only flour, eggs and milk.
For anyone following along at home who didn’t learn how to make spatzle in their middle school German class, it’s a kind of egg noodle that will really impress 12 year olds when you make it and prompt them to continue taking German classes into college. It’s excellent because it has really basic ingredients and is extremely versatile.
This is pretty much it
I made mine with sauteed apples because that was the only other thing that I could possibly make from the food in my house, it’s lean times guys. BUT if you want to get a little more traditional with it any kind of sausage or wurst would be a good addition or just eat it plain with a lot of butter or some kind of heavy cream sauce, German comfort food is the best.
Ingredients
For Spatzle
1 cup flour
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of pepper
2 tbs butter
Sauteed Apples
1 apple
1/2 tbs butter
cinnamon to taste
1 tbs maple syrup (or honey)
To make Spatzle
1. Combine flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Beat eggs in a smaller bowl. Mix eggs and milk into the flour mixture a little at a time, alternating as you go. You will have a weird sort of stretchy dough that looks like this
yum! (this isn’t quite all the way mixed you want it to be a bit smoother)
2. Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes while you bring a pot of lightly salted water to a simmer. You don’t want a rolling boil just keep it at a gentle simmer throughout.
3. Push the dough through a colander into the simmering water in small batches. Noodles are done when they float to the top of the water (about 4 minutes). Scoop out of the water with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl until all of the dough is done. NOTE! You can’t use a mesh colander for this, you have to have one of the metal ones with large holes or if you are super German and fancy I’ve heard that there actually is such a thing as a spatzle maker. I found that the large openings of my cheese grater worked really well.
4. In a skillet melt the butter. Toss spatzle in the butter to coat and cook for a few minutes. Serve immediately.
To make Sauteed Apples
1. Slice the apple into thin pieces. Melt butter in a skillet, add apples and cinnamon and cook for about 10 minutes, until apples are tender, stirring occasionally.
2. Add maple syrup and cook for a few more minutes until most of the syrup has cooked off.
3. Spoon over spatzle and enjoy! I added a little bit of cheddar to my Spatzle and then added the apples and it was delicious.
That’s it dear readers, quick and painless just like we like. Great meal for those on a budget and something that is pretty fun to experiment with for different flavor combinations. Each can be served on their own, spatzle as a side dish or a stand alone meal and the apples can be used for breakfast, in desserts or atop delicious, cheesy, German noodles.
Have some kind of dark German beer for me readers!
-Audrey
p.s. I really did take German through college and it is killing me that I can’t add an umlaut over the a in spatzle.
Champagne and Edibles 