Spaetzle!

Today I got a new spaetzle press, finally a good one, and made up a batch of the stuff with chicken, mushrooms, and 5 year aged cheddar. For those who haven't had the chance to try spaetzle, it's a member of the german family of dumpling-noodle hybrids,and leans more towards noodle. Generally. Recipe and bento contents below.



Today's bento:
chicken/mushroom/aged cheddar spaetzle
cherry tomatoes
cucumber
sliced dehydrated peach
snap peas
green beans

Spaetzle Recipe:

Tools:
Spaetzle Press
Mixing bowl
Strainer/colander with a pot or dish to put it in beside the stovetop
slotted spoon
mixing/measuring spoons
serving dish with lid (or a plate overtop)

Ingredients:
2 eggs1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon each salt, pepper
1 teaspoon nutmeg (I skipped it because A hates the stuff. Who hates nutmeg? I mean, really?)
1 cup flour
1 cup breadcrumbs

Optional Ingredients:
1/2 cup grated cheese (Emental is both traditional and my favourite)
1/2 cup diced chicken

1/2 cup diced onions
1/2 cup diced mushrooms, onions, and/or mushrooms, panfried until crispy)

Directions:

• Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil, salted as you would for pasta. make sure the level of the water is at least 3 cm below where your spaetzle press rests with the handle sitting across the top of the pot.
• Pan-fry the diced onions, mushrooms, and meat (if using) until dry and crispy
• stir eggs, milk, salt and pepper together lightly, just so the yolks are evenly distributed, add the flour, and stir until incorporated.
• Slowly add breadcrumbs until a texture thicker than pancake batter is reached. 
• Once the water is boiling,fill your press up about half way with batter/dough, slowly squeeze down until it's all passed into the water, and remove the press from the pot. 
• Once they noodles start floating, they can be spooned out with a slotted spoon into the strainer/colander you've got sitting in a dish nearby
• Refill the spaetzle press, and put another batch in the bubbling water
• Toss the dried spaetzle in the serving dish, adding a thin layer of meat/onions/mushrooms/cheese, as desired, then cover the dish to keep it warm
• repeat until you run out of batter

How much thicker than pancake batter you make the batter is really up to you and your desired consistency, but if you're not sure, just go with 1 cup of bread crumbs. Also, using 2 cups of flour and leaving out the breadcrumbs will give you firmer noodles.

I think the reason for the breadcrumbs, traditionally, was to use up the stale loaf heels traditional germanic kitchens had piling up. If you have the same problem, by all means dice up your stale bread, toss it in a food processor, and use it up here. Beats smashing them into fine crumbs with a wooden kitchen mallet any day.

To warm up leftover spaetzle, I leave it in a ceramic serving dish, and either microwave for 10 minutes if I'm lazy, or pop it in the oven at 350F until warm. I'm always lazy.