The Frahm.Space

The Frahm.Space

Spätzle

 Spätzle

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 (or more) cup milk
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 cup chopped, steamed, green beans
  • 1/2 lb chopped bacon
  • 1 cup grated gouda

Boil 6 qurts of water in a large pot. Prepare spätzle batter by adding salt and pepper to flour in a medium mixing bowl. Add eggs and begin to mix. Mix in milk. Continue to add milk until mixture is roughly the consistency of a pancake batter. Start cooking bacon, chopped in a pan. Start steaming green beans. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Pour spatezle batter through a spätzle maker (or a colander) in batches into the water (now at a rolling boil). When the mixture rises to the surface of the water, scoop the spätzle with a slotted spoon and collect in a casserole dish until all spätzle batter has been collected in the casserole dish. Cut steamed green beans and bacon then mix into the spätzle. Grate and spread gouda. Mix most of the gouda into the spätzle, sprinkle the rest over the top. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until browned on top. Serve in a bowl to one very hungry Justin or equivalent.

The Details:

Spätzle (pronounced "shpayt-zluh more or less) is a real favorite of mine. It's basically German homemade noodle-dumpling-things. It takes some time and a little mastery of the batter / water process but, when done right, it's DELICIOUS! We like it so much, we usually make a triple batch (as pictured). You're going to need a lot of boiling water. Get 6 quarts started in a big pot now. You'll want it at a rolling boil when you're done preparing the spätzle batter.

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Add flour, salt, and pepper to a mixing bowl.

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Add eggs and start mixing.

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Pour in the milk, still mixing.

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Keep mixing (and adding milk as necessary - you could wind up using way more than 1/2 cups) until it has about the consistency pictured here.

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Set this aside for a moment and feel free to begin to get excited about the amazingness to come.

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Chop up your bacon and get it frying. Set it aside when done. Also, now would be a good time to pre-heat the oven to 400°F.

1

Get your green beans steaming (we used frozen - frozen is fine for spätzle).

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Grate some of that gouda.

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Eat some gouda.

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Grate some MORE gouda. (As an aside, in any recipe we cook, whenever one inquires about the amount of cheese needed, the correct answer is always, "Better add some more". I understand this to be the case in any household that is heavily influenced by New Mexican culture. spätzle is no exception. GRATE MORE CHEESE! We used up all of our gouda, our backup-gouda, and our emergency-backup-gouda making this dish.

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Now, it is time to introduce the star of this show: The Kontraptie. Known by normal people as a "spätzle Maker". You can use a colander if necessary but really, if you're going to make this a second time, consider getting a Kontraptie.

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Add some batter to your Kontraptie (colander), while holding it over the boiling water.

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Allow the batter to press through the holes, fall into the boiling water. When the spätzle is cooked, it will rise to the top.

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Scoop up spätzle with a slotted spoon and move it over to a casserole dish.

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Try to let the spätzle drip off as much as you can so you don't get a pond in your casserole dish.

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Mix in your green beans...

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...and mix in your bacon.

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Mix in some gouda, spread some over the top.

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Pop it into the oven for 20-ish minutes, or until the top gets a little brown.

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Enjoy the amazing in a bowl! Sit down first for safety's sake.