Monday 16 June 2014

Germany: Käsespätzle (Swabian Cheese Noodles)

I still can ... do another post along the World Cup games. The next few days might get a bit more stressful, so that the chances are limited then. Well, Germany ... hm ... fine, I'm there very often ... fine, most of the time. Often I ask myself, why? Fine, but not now. Often I ask myself, what is a typical German dish? Shall I say, Bratkartoffeln (fried potatoes) or Currywurst with chips? Anyway, potatoes are often involved, but as in many Western countries around the world you have very often dishes from other countries, maybe here in Germany Italian or Chinese food. So, sometimes I ask others what is a typical German dish? The answer I got today was: Käsespätzle. Honestly, I have never eaten it before, maybe only Spätzle without cheese and then only the packed ones. You can so easily do them yourself, as you will see very very soon ...


The following recipe is supposed to be for one person, but when you put a salad on the side, it's for sure for one greedy person (me?).
A tool like this will come in handy, otherwise you have to could the Spätzle from a board into the water.


I borrowed this from a friend, but I am sure you can find something suitable.

Ingredients:
2 small onions, cut in rings
2 eggs
Water
Flour
Butter
Salt
Pepper
Grated cheese (in Germany Bergkäse or Emmentaler would be used)

Method:
I told you, it will be very very easy. After all I did it right the first time I tried.
You can already get a pan ready fry off the onions with a knob of butter.
In fact, you can also get your water boiling, really boiling, bubbling away. Usually that takes some time, too.
Now the dough for the Spätzle (noodles). Crack the two eggs into a bowl. Be careful, to break the egg properly. You can use one half of an egg to measure the amount of water you need to add to the dough. So, add half a shell of water to the mixture. A pinch of salt and now we only need flour. Add until the dough stops to be runny, so it will slowly ooze down from a spoon.
When it is like this, you can spoon it on your plate with a hole and scrape the dough through the holes into the boiling water. Otherwise you have to cut small pieces of dough to let them drop into the water.
They will take about two minutes to cook. Then do with them as they were fresh pasta. Rinse off the water. 
Afterwards put them into an oven proof dish.


On top of that we add the grated cheese and the onion rings. That goes into the oven to melt away the cheese. Check it!


Maybe you could wait a little longer than I did, but ... hey, I was very hungry. I only had a banana for lunch and ... yes, maybe a cereal bar. Ah, right, not maybe. I indeed have a cereal bar as well, although I could have had some more Engadine Nut Pie.
Anyway, meal is ready. Have a simple salad on the side and ... that is, if you have some wheat beer along. Why not!?


Yes, yes, that was totally delicious and totally simple and ... the salad gives you some alibi to make it all a bit more healthy. After all you don't have to have such a big portions of the Käsespätzle and you don't need to have a bear. Some water will do as well.
Finally, I closer look ...


Maybe you know, that Germany won the game against Portugal 4-0 (I didn't even care to watch). Well, I already planned to do this post before I knew, Germany would be winning. That makes four posts in a row for the winning team ...


6 comments:

  1. Never tried this dish, but it sounds like a perfect comfort food to me.

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    Replies
    1. It's absolutely lovely. I should indeed do it more often.

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  2. Maybe you're tne new psychic octopus for picking the winning teams ! We just need to look at your menu plan to see who will win ! ;-)

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    Replies
    1. So, keep that in mind, although it's only for one game usually.

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  3. Gotta love Kasespatzle! It's comfort food at it's best!

    ReplyDelete

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