"Grandma Anna"Most cultures have some version of noodle or dumpling. The Italians act like they invented pasta, and the Germans have their spaetzle. Sometimes you see dried spaetzle at specialty food stores, but it's just big chunks of regular egg noodles that must be boiled a long time. Nothing like fresh spaetzle. My German grandmother would make them by hand. She mixed the egg batter and spread it thinly on a little board, then sliced the spaetzle one-by-one into boiling water, dipping the knife as she went along. It sounds tedious, but I remember her knife flashing in a blur as the pot filled with noodles. Practice makes perfect.
The basic recipe is simple:
2 cups flour
3 eggs
milk
1 tsp. salt
Just put the flour and salt into a bowl, then break the eggs into a "well" in the middle. As you mix the eggs in the center, gradually pull in the flour. Slowly beat in enough milk to make a very soft dough.
The batter should begin to "sheet" off the spoon as you beat it...
Then it goes into the spaetzle maker, over a pot of boiling water. The little basin slides back and forth, pushing the dough through the holes in a few seconds. Slick!You can buy one from Target. I don't usually care for single purpose kitchen gadgets, but this one is worth it.
Don't turn your back, because the pot likes to boil over. The spaetzle float up and are done in just a few minutes. Although my grandfather would have considered "machine" spaetzle gagingly thick.John, however, loves them. Spaetzle makes a great side with a roast chicken dinner, and the leftovers are good the next day fried in butter with onion and parsley.
Winter us the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.
Edith Sitwell
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