Making spaetzle...

Ready to eat - tossed in butter, sauteed garlic, onion, herbs and parmesan.
Step 7: Cooling cooked spaetzle in bowl of warm water...
Step 6: Spaetzle are floating and puffed - ready to remove...
Step 5: Spaetzle are beginning to rise to the surface...
Step 4: Pushing dough through spaetzle maker...
Step 3: Ready to poach dough
Step 2: Finished dough...
Step 1: Adding egg and water to flour...


Following up on my post about the Konstanz nachtmarkt, here's my meisterklasse for making spaetzle.

Ingredients [will make enough to feed 4]

500g flour

5-6 eggs [depending on size]

1 teaspoon of salt

100-200 ml of cold water

1. Mix flour and salt in a bowl

2. Add beaten eggs and some of the water [too much may make the dough too thin]

3. Stir or beat using an electric mixer [use dough hooks] until dough becomes smooth and has a light texture. It should not appear too thick or thin. To test, place a small amount of the dough into the spaetzle maker or colander - when the consistency is correct the dough will appear as little dough drops on the underside. If the dough runs through it's too thin. Adjust consistency with additional water or flour if needed.

4. Bring large pot of salted water to boil.

5. Rinse spaetzle maker or colander in cold water and place over the pot. Put a portion of dough into the maker/colander and push it through the holes using a scraping motion. A dough scraper is the perfect utensil for this.

6. The spaetzle are ready to remove when they have risen to the surface and are appear puffed. Remove using a slotted spoon or skimmer and place in a bowl of warm water for a short time and then into a colander to drain.

7. The spaetzle are now ready to finish and serve. There are many options to choose from, some more involved than others, but I prefer the simple approach as I like the spaetzle to be the star of the show. The spaetzle in this picture was tossed through onion, garlic and fresh herbs that had been sauteed in butter and finished with parmesan.

Some other delicious ideas are mushrooms; spinach; Gruyere topped with a fried egg; sauerkraut, speck and sausage. The possibilities are endless as the versatile spaetzle makes the perfect accompaniment for other dishes such as lentils, stews and meat courses.

I've been told that spaetzle freezes well but I've never had the chance to try it because we never seem to have any left over!

Nachtmarkt food....

Ahh, the food at the nachtmarkt. There's no mystery as to where those extra kilos came from but it was worth every bite. Sadly, nachmarkts around Europe are about to finish for the year and I'm sure there will be many lamenting the disappearance of the fried pastries, roasted raclette served over boiled potatoes, spaetzle, roasted chestnuts, spicy sweet traditional biscuits and gingerbread-like creations.

The top photo is a pizza-like pastry that's apparently German in origin. Once your order is placed, the stall owner flattens out the dough and places on the toppings you have chosen. It then goes into the wood fired oven. Just before it is served a 'sauce' is spooned over the top [seemingly a garlicky herb oil].

The next is langos [pronounced 'langosh'], a fried pastry made from a potato dough and hails from Hungary. It was served as a sweet or a savoury pastry. Delicious. My favourite option was the one featured in this photo: sour cream, garlic, cheese and salt. Keen to try making your own? Have a look at this recipe: http://homepage.interaccess.com/~june4/langospotatocakes.html

Last but not least is spaetzle which is, in my opinion, somewhat addictive. It's an egg noodle/dumpling which is considered to be a "Swabian specialty". Konstanz is a part of the medieval territory of Swabia, however spaetzle is found throughout Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Alsace region of France. On this particular day, I ordered spinach spaetzle with mushrooms and Dr H couldn't resist the sauerkraut/speck version.

I'll post my spaetzle recipe, with photos, soon. So get your spaetzle maker, or even your colander, so that you're ready to go. How can you resist?