Spaetzle is a traditional German dumpling. Chef Seth Elgar says it's supposed to be a rough, rustic dish. "It's not a highfalutin Italian pasta by any means," he adds. But once you see how easy this recipe is, Elgar says you might want to try your hand at a more complicated pasta recipe. "[Spaetzle] is a good confidence booster."
Once you've mastered this basic recipe, you can go rogue and make Beet Spaetzle.
Start by roasting your beets until they're very tender. Run them through a food processor, then strain out the bits and pieces. The result should be beautiful beet purée. After that, he says the substitutions are simple:
- 2 eggs (instead of 4)
- 1/3 cup whole milk (instead of 1 cup)
- 1/2 cup beet purée
- more flour (as needed)
Spaetzle
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 1 1/3 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/3 teaspon ground white pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup parsley leaves, finely minced
- 1 small lemon, zested (Cut the rest into wedges)
- 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
- Butter, for sauté purposes
Instructions
- In a large bowl sift your flour and add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir to mix.
- In a second bowl whisk the egg until it's homogeneous (no stringy protein). Whisk the milk, lemon zest, parsley, and whole grain mustard into the eggs. Add the liquids to the flour, whisk to combine, make sure there aren't any pockets of flour in the mix.
- Bring water to a boil in a large sauce pot. Add 3 tablespoons of salt to the water.
- Transfer half of the spaetzle dough into your perforated pan or food mill. If you're using a perforated pan, use a rubber spatula to push the dough into the pot of boiling salted water. If using a food mill, crank the dough through the mill into the boiling water.
- Cook the dumplings until they float to the top of the water. Retrieve them with a skimmer or small sieve strainer and put them in cold water to stop the cooking. Repeat the process with the remainder of the dough
- After 15 minutes, strain the dumplings from the cold water. Toss them in oil to prevent them from sticking together.
- When ready to reheat the spaetzle, put a sauté pan on high heat. Add butter, let it melt and swirl the pan to coat. Add enough dumplings to fill the pan. (Do not over fill with dumplings!) Allow the spaetzle to brown on the first side -- which is to say don't agitate the pan too much. Once brown, then you can toss the spaetzle in the pan to expose other surfaces. Cook to brown. Empty the pan. Repeat this process with the remainder of the spaetzle.
- Serve them with lemon wedges and a dash of fresh parsley.
