Spätzle Side Dish Recipe

Spätzle Recipe (serves 4)

Equipment: 4qt Pot with boiling water, Stand mixer with paddle attachment, ladle, Spätzlemaker or perforated pan with 3/8” big holes or a sieve with the same size holes, Skimmer or sieve for draining, Sautee pan

Ingredients
1lb all purpose flour
6 ea whole eggs
1/2 c sparkling water
1 pinch nutmeg
2 pinch salt and white pepper

2 tsp butter for Sauteeing

Procedure
Place all ingredients (except the butter) in the mixer, run on slow speed at first to mix everything together, then speed it up and whip for 2-3 minutes. The batter should be gooey and have bubbles when it is whipped enough.

Put the Spätzlemaker on top of the pot of salted boiling water (just like for Pasta), pour the batter into the cup. If the cup gets moved back and forth the dumplings will turn out to be very small. If the batter just gets pushed through the holes the Spätzle will turn out more like pasta. I like the longer version better. If you use a sieve or perforated pan then just push the batter through the holes into the boiling water. The Spätzle will start to float and swell up. Boil for just 1-2 minutes then drain. Melt the butter in a sautee pan until it starts to bubble, then add the hot Spätzle. Sautee for a few minutes and then season to taste with salt and pepper.

Spätzle can be served with almost anything - a roast, chicken, fish or braised meat. They can also be colored by adding spinach puree for green, saffron or curry for yellow, tomato paste for red, etc. For our Seabass dish we color them with spinach puree (spinach blanched and shocked in ice water, padded dry, pureed smooth with vegetable oil) and sautee them together with wild mushrooms, spinach and oven dried cherry tomatoes.