I’ve been wanting to make spaetzle for a while. I’m pretty sure I’ve never had it before; I certainly have no recollection of ever eating it. But I’ve always liked the sound of it. It sounded like a dish you could be really proud of: hand-crafting those cute little twisty pasta shapes seemed to be a time-consuming job, but one that yielded wonderful results.
And I was right. It was time-consuming.
I have no problems spending copious amounts of time in the kitchen. And I don’t mind it when recipes don’t include an estimated prepping and cooking time, because I never manage to stay within such time frames. Knowing this, I probably should have accounted for a decent prep time for the forming of the spaetzle instead of thinking I could manage to do it half an hour before we wanted to eat.
I made this dish on New Year’s Eve to go along with Dorie’s mussels and chorizo dish (which the Doristas made last February). I knew the mussels would cook up fast, and the pre-formed and par-boiled spaetzle seemed like they would as well, and I liked the idea of a quick but delicious meal for the last night of the year.
So, I got everything ready to go for the spaetzle, which had a wonderful abundance of herbs thrown into it. The dough came together quickly and easily. No reason why it shouldn’t – it was just flour, eggs, and milk. It formed a thick, sticky dough, and it was at that point that I began to worry a little. It was too thick. I planned to use a slotted ladle as my spaetzle maker, but I had to hold it over the boiling water, let the heat loosen up the dough, and use all the force I could muster to push it through the holes, which were not very big but not very small either. One spoonful took forever. By the end of it, my wrists were aching, particularly the one holding the ladle. I had Geordie come over and help me, and he had a bear of a time with it too. We did two more spoonfuls, at which point about twenty minutes had passed and we had barely gotten through a quarter of the dough. We decided that what we had would have to be enough, because neither of us wanted to deal with it anymore.
So, I put aside the dough, pulled what spaetzle remained out of the boiling water, and began working on the mussels. That went fairly quickly, and then it was on to preparing the mushrooms that the spaetzle would be added to. Once they were cooked down and ready to go, the spaetzle went in. Soon after that, the mussels went into their own pot of tomatoes and chorizo.
For all the effort that went into the spaeztle, it was a tasty dish. The little dumplings absorbed some great flavor from the mushrooms and the vegetable broth, and they lent a nice mellowness to the spiciness of the chorizo. The mussels were terrific, and they are fast becoming my favorite shellfish (sorry, lobster!), given that they are so easy and so delicious. And so versatile! All in all, we enjoyed it, and it made for a cozy New Year’s Eve.
But, while the spaeztle was tasty and made a good meal better, I wouldn’t make it again unless I had a tool that made it much, much easier. I liked it, and I’d definitely eat it again, but I did not enjoy making it. I know there are spaeztle makers out there, so maybe that’s something I’ll want to look into getting someday. For now, I’ll consider this a learning experience. Time management is still something I’m working on when it comes to food prep.
Check out how the spaetzle worked for the other Doristas at this week’s link; they made some very pretty little dumplings! Happy cooking!
12 comments
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January 4, 2013 at 11:17 am
bakeawaywithme.com
Sara, Your spaetzle looks wonderful served with the Mussels. I loved that dish…one of my favorites. You’re right…a perfect way to end the year! Happy New Year!
January 4, 2013 at 11:46 am
thatskinnychickcanbake
I’m glad you at least got a sample! It looks darned tasty to me. The spaetzle press worked like a charm….I don’t know if I’d have your patience to use a slotted ladle…you get bonus points for that!
January 4, 2013 at 12:26 pm
tammycirceo
Agreed! I struggled with making the dough into noodles, too. I mean, I struggled a lot! And after tasting the first little bits that came out of the water, I decided to serve rice with my roast chicken!
January 4, 2013 at 4:16 pm
yummychunklet
Kudos for the double Dorie post! Your spaetzle and mussels look delicious.
January 4, 2013 at 8:49 pm
betsy
You are very patient. Sorry you didn’t get enough before you ran out of energy, but your spaetzle does look tasty. I’ll bet it was great with mussels. Nice teamwork!
January 5, 2013 at 12:13 am
Cakelaw
Aaaahhh! I will be using a slotted spoon too. Your spaetzle looks good.
January 5, 2013 at 2:18 pm
Cher
Aww. I am sorry this one was a challenge.
The mussels look delicious and I am sure that sauce was soaked up beautifully into your noodles.
January 5, 2013 at 4:46 pm
Andrea
Sara, certainly looks like you prepared a delcious dinner of mussels and Spätzle (I had never heard of theat combination before but it sounds intriguing and it looks wonderful)!. Spätzle making can be a bit time consuming without the specialty Spätzle making gadgets but in my family´s humble opinion, the end result is always delicious.
January 5, 2013 at 6:17 pm
Teresa
I think the mussels and chorizo go beautifully with the spaetzle. Nice choice! Mussels are becoming one of my favourite seafoods, too, though I still love scallops best.
January 5, 2013 at 10:49 pm
Adriana @ GreatFood360°
I am a mushroom fiend as well and would have loved your version. Hey, you gave it a try and the noodles looked pretty good too. I love the mussels and chorizo – it’s definitely worth revisiting.
January 6, 2013 at 10:43 am
Mary Hirsch
Were you at my house, Sara? Your experience sounds like my experience only, unfortunately, I didn’t have Geordie around. ( I was paying Robert a hefty fee to paint and Charlie didn’t offer to assist me! ) I tried so many different methods that my “clean-up” was immense. I did like the end product but, like you, I will wait until I buy the right equipment before making it again. Probably will do that in Year 2021. We agree on mussels – my favorite, also. Love them. Love them. Love them. I am so glad you are committed to more foodblogging and to participating in our group. And, the writing every day is a “must” if you want to succeed in the fiction department. Don’t give up on that. Thank you for writing about your spaetzle experience – it didn’t make me feel like the only spaetzle fail.
January 6, 2013 at 12:16 pm
Nana
Those mussels look really tasty along side the spaetzle. Nice
combination. We loved this recipe and I hope to make it again.
Have a Happy New Year.