Classic German Spätzle
This is probably the easiest pasta recipe. Ever. So unlike Germans.
by Erin Henderson
Before my dad retired, he worked in the food industry importing foods from Europe and distributing, mostly, to the US.
A big portion of his business was foods from Germany – chocolate, coffee, bread, and quite a lot of packaged goods like frozen pizzas and dried noodles.
One of the packages was for spätzle, a traditional German noodle that's usually served buttered alongside roasted or braised meats.
We ate it; it was probably good, but I don't remember much about it.
But it wasn't until recently, when I started making my own spätzle from scratch, that I wondered why we ever ate the boxed stuff. Spätzle has got to be the easiest dough I have ever made. With only three ingredients (four, if you count the pinch of salt) and no kneading, it's nearly fool proof.
And, since the dough comes together in minutes, it can be blended together while the water comes to a boil.
Truly, nothing could be easier.
Classic German Spätzle
Not only is this easy to make, but it stores really well. I like to to toast leftovers in a pan with just some melted butter.
To make the noodles you have to push the batter through a flat cheese grater. My mum has a special spätzle maker, which she bought for about $20, but honestly, is exactly the same as a flat cheese grater which I got at the dollar store, for... a dollar.
Makes: 8-10 cups noodles
Chef level: easy
Special equipment: spider or slotted spoon, flat cheese grater (but not this one; go to the dollar store.)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup whole milk
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp Kosher salt, plus more for seasoning the water
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2-3 Tbsp butter
How to Make It:
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
- In a deep frying pan, melt butter over low heat.
- Pour the milk into a mixing bowl and add the eggs and salt. Stir to combine.
- Sift the flour through a fine mesh strainer to get out any lumps and pour into the egg mixture.
- Stir to combine. The dough should be loose and pourable, like pancake batter.
- Place the flat grater across the pot of boiling water, sharp edges down.
- working in batches, scoop a ladle full of batter out of the bowl and spread it across the grater.
- Run the spoon along the grater, allowing the batter to fall through the holes into the water.
- Once the noodles firm up and float to the surface, scoop from the water with a spider or slotted spoon and add to the melted butter in the frying pan. stir to coat.
- Keep going – spooning out the batter across the grater, spooning the noodles from the boiling water to the frying pan – until all the batter has been used.
- Serve warm along side roasted pork or braised beef.
Spätzle with Gruyère and Onion:
This is my favourite way to serve spätzle and it takes no extra time.
- Warm the butter in the frying pan over medium heat and add in one finely chopped onion (about a cup), sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. Stir occasionally allowing the onion to caramelize.
- Make the spätzle as outlined above, and add the cooked spätzle to the butter/onion mixture.
- When all the spätzle has been added to the pan, turn off the heat and finely grate Gruyère into the noodles, allowing it to melt.
- Serve.
Wine Pairing
The wine will largely be dependent on the rest of the dinner: are you serving spätzle with braised beef and gravy or roast pork and a creamy sauce?
Spätzle, on its own with butter, works well with Chardonnay, as the buttery sauce echos the rich and buttery notes of the wine.