Spätzle (Bavarian), Spätzli (Swiss) or Spaetzle (Americanized) – pronounced “spet-zul”, are soft, easy-to-make last-minute homemade noodles. Our Swiss-German grandmother served them in chicken soup.
I can't believe people will actually buy dried spaetzle or use a fancy maker to drop them. They are so easy to stir up!
The secret to getting these right is beating well to get a slightly elastic batter. Grandma poured the dough into a fairly flat salad plate and cut off the noodles right into the bubbly broth with a table knife. A smaller cutting board works too. If you like knöpfle, or little knobs of dumplings, just drop pieces with two spoons.
The spaetzle are done when they rise to the top; they should be delicate and light, but slightly chewy. If the first one or two are too doughy, add some milk. If you double this recipe, cook in two batches so you will not have some done before you can get all of them in the pan.
The secret to getting these right is beating well to get a slightly elastic batter. Grandma poured the dough into a fairly flat salad plate and cut off the noodles right into the bubbly broth with a table knife. A smaller cutting board works too. If you like knöpfle, or little knobs of dumplings, just drop pieces with two spoons.
The spaetzle are done when they rise to the top; they should be delicate and light, but slightly chewy. If the first one or two are too doughy, add some milk. If you double this recipe, cook in two batches so you will not have some done before you can get all of them in the pan.
The noodle batter has only 4 ingredients and costs only 20¢ to make.
Spaetzle
Soup
3/4 cup Celery -- finely diced
3/4 cup Carrots -- grated
3/8 cup Onion -- finely chopped
1 1/2 quarts Rich Chicken or Turkey Broth
1 pint Canned Chicken or Turkey (Optional)
Batter
1 Large Egg -- beaten
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Flour, All-purpose
1 tablespoons Milk
Soup: Cook vegetables in chicken broth until tender, 15-20 minutes. Add chicken if desired, and keep soup simmering while adding batter.
Spaetzle: Beat eggs; add salt and flour, add milk gradually. Beat well. Batter should be fairly thick and elastic. Pour batter into a flat plate or cutting board sprayed with cooking spray. Tilt the plate slightly over the bubbling broth and slice off small noodles with a table knife into the soup. Let them cook, about 5 minutes or so, until they are floating on top.
Serve with sprinkles of chopped parsley.
4 Servings as a main dish soup
I actually had spinach spaetzle on Saturday as part of my meal when we were out for dinner. They were good.
ReplyDelete..and so easy.
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