Spaetzle

That's right, for all you Germans out there I made Spaetzle Sunday night.  I was cookbook browsing for a comforting, warm dinner idea and I came across the recipe for Herb Spaetzle - I thought "I have a Spaetzle maker"!  Thanks to Grandma Lisel and my mother-in-law for passing it on, originally because I was talking about ricing potatoes.

I do not have a picture of the Spaetzle, it looked lovely on the platter surrounding a sliced port roast, with roasted vegetables on the side, but of course, after we'd all dug in Joe said, "Did you take a picture?"  For those that don't know what Spaetzle is, it's like a German noodle, or dumpling, similar almost to gnocchi.

This recipe is from the Farm to Table Cookbook: The Art of Eating Locally by Ivy Manning. It's a lovely book organized by seasons, which is my favorite way for cookbooks to be organized.

Herb Spaetzle
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon minced mixed fresh winter herbs (thyme, rosemary, sage)
2 1/4 cups flour (I used white wheat flour)
2 Tablespoons butter

1. Whisk the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and herbs in a medium bowl.  Sift the flour over the mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth and thick.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a simmer.  Hold the spaetzle maker over the water and add 1/4 of the batter.  Scrape it back and forth, forcing little bits of batter into the simmering water.  Remove the bits with a slotted spoon as they float to the top (almost immediately), transfer them to a saute pan with the butter, and keep them warm over low heat while continuing to cook the remaining batter.

3. When all the batter is cooked and in the saute pan, raise the heat to high, briefly toast the spaetzle in the butter until golden brown, and serve.
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We ended this meal with the perfect dessert, a wonderful Gingerbread cake found on the Simply Recipes blog and posted by Garrett McCord.  The below picture is from that wesite, although my cake was very similar, my plate wasn't nearly so pretty.