The epitome of love for my child in my house is if I make spaetzle mid-week. My youngest son, Ryan, absolutely adores spaetzle. If you aren’t German, you may not know what these little bits of heaven are and why my son goes into a frenzy when he sees them. According to the Spatzle Page (see? they have their OWN page – what does that tell you????), Spaetzle [SHPEHT-sluh; SHPEHT-sehl; SHPEHT-slee] literally translated from German as “little sparrow,” is a dish of tiny noodles or dumplings made with flour, eggs, water or milk, salt and sometimes nutmeg.
- Spatzle – made with a machine and therefore thin and cheap
My spaetzle are NOT made with a machine. Rather they were (note the “were”) always made by scraping dough off a tablespoon into the boiling water. This was the way my grandmother made them and it takes a long time to fill that bowl.
- Two Tablespoons
My family always wants plenty of spaetzle left over to fry up the next day for breakfast. So, can you picture me happily scraping dough, bit by bit, into the pot? Well, I did until I caught this video on YouTube and watched with wonder as this German oma spread some dough onto a board and scraped them into the pot.
They were still a little thin for me so I improvised. I took my smooth, stone cutting board and I cut and flicked the dough with my pallet knife into the water. Much faster, still thicker than these stringy specimens and I was a happy camper. They are exquisite when smothered with goulash:
- Goulash and Spatzle
Maybe I will make them every week. Or maybe I’ll just boil a pot of noodles and let the spaetzle continue to be special to my family 🙂
Ingredients
- 4 C Flour
- 3 Large Eggs
- 1 C Milk
- 1 Tbsp + 1 Tsp Salt
- Nutmeg to Taste
Instructions
- Prepare a firm dough from the flour, eggs, milk, salt and nutmeg.
- Beat until it comes easily away from the sides of the bowl.
- Form dumplings and cook in a pot of boiling, salted water.
- When they rise to the top, let them cook a minute or so longer. Skim them out and dip in cold water to stop them from cooking.
- Coat lightly (very lightly) with vegetable oil to stop them from sticking to each other.
Oh gosh! My VERY German husband would love this–will now give it a go–thanks for sharing! 🙂
Ahhhh, I absolutely adore spaetzle too! My grandfather used to make it for every holiday. I miss it. 🙁
There is just something comforting about German cuisine. It always reminds me of Sunday dinners when I was little 🙂