Dumpling | Phat Jim's Cookin' For You

Spaetzle & Chicken Schnitzel

Looks like pasta, technically it’s a dumping but it’s soooooo delicious!! I only had this the first time a few months ago and just HAD to learn how to make it. Just toss it in butter to serve it. My BFF Monique likes it with beef gravy drizzled on it.

This dish isn’t for the faint of heart. While it’s simple, it’s not particularly easy and it’s damn messy to make. However, like I said, it’s MMM-MMM-MMM DELICIOUS….so it’s worth the effort and the mess.

There is a method to make this using a flat board and a chef’s knife. However, I choose the easier route and bought a Spaetzle maker. It cost about CDN$25 at a local specialty kitchen store.

Ingredients

4 Eggs beaten
1/3 Cup milk
2 teaspoons salt
2 Cups all purpose flour
Cooking spray (Pam)

Directions

Set a large pot of salted water to boil. You want a gentle rolling boil, not a hard boil.

Now combine the eggs, milk and salt in a bowl. Then turn into the flour and stir until you have a very stiff batter. You would expect it to be runny but it’s not.

When the water is boiling, spray the track and bowl of the Spaetzle Maker with cooking spray, then set it on top of the pot of boiling water. The Spaetzle maker has a small hook on the far end to hold it in place on the top of the pot. Hold the handle of the Spaetzle Maker so that you are also holding the pot of water steady as well. If you don’t, the pot of water could easily go flying off the stove!

Now spoon some of the batter into the bowl of the Spaetzle maker than start moving it back and forth along the track. The batter will slowly go down through the holes but it will go down. Don’t feel the need to press down on it. The batter that falls into the hot water will sink to the bottom. As soon as it’s cooked it will float to the top. Once it’s floated to the top, it is fully cooked.

The process of making Spaetlze is to use the maker to drop some dough into the water, then scoop the cooked Spaetzle out of the water, then put the Spaetzle Maker back on the pot and grate some more into the water…. this can be repeated five or six times until you get it all cooked. As soon as you start making the Spaetzle you will see why you use the Pam…and why I say it’s not easy (though it is simple). Stick with it though, don’t give up! The end result is amazing.

Glass/Ceramic bowl with kitchen strainer and slotted spoon

You don’t want your finished Spaetzle sitting in water. What I do is have a bowl with a large kitchen strainer resting on top of it. I use a slotted spoon to remove the cooked Spaetzle from the boiling water and then put it into the kitchen strainer. Once all the Spaetzle is cooked, then the strainer has allowed all the water to drain off it. I turn the Spaetzel into a glass or ceramic bowl and add a Tablespoon of butter, stirring gently to melt the butter.