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Cheese
Spaetzle - Kaesspaetzle Recipe
Kaesspaetzle
(Cheese Spaetzle/Cheese Dumplings or Pasta)
200 gram (7 oz) of Emmentaler cheese (Swiss cheese)
500 gram (17 oz) flour
6 eggs
2 Onions
3 tablespoons butter
pepper
salt
1. First
of all, grate the cheese…you should not let a Spaetzle wait once
it leaves the water!
2. Mix the flour with the eggs, 1-2 tablespoon salt and around ½
cup of lukewarm water until there are no lumps left. The consistency is
difficult to describe, but it is not as liquid as pancake dough, and not
as solid as cake dough. It has to drip slowly from the spoon and has the
right consistency when it bubbles. Let the dough sit for ½ hour.
3. Boil 3 quart of water with 3 table spoons salt. While the water begins
boiling, peel the onions and cut into thin rings. Melt the butter in a
pan, and sauté the onions on low heat until golden brown. Preheat
the oven to 400 degrees.
4. Now it gets tricky, because there are a few ways to make the Spaetzle.
I will describe all the options and you can pick and choose which one
you want to use.
a. The
old fashioned way: put a thin layer of dough on a cutting board and
shave of small pieces (1 inch long, 1/5 inch thin) with a knife into
the boiling water. As soon as the Spaetzle come back to the surface,
after one boil, skim, and drain.
b. For
this way, you need the in my opinion perfect tool for Spaetzle: the
'Spaetzle Hobel' (Spaetzle Machine).
c. If you don't have a Spaetzle Maker, go in a restaurant supply. Ask
for a chafing pan with holes in it. I think the right size is about
12.5 inch by 10 inch and 2 1/2 inch deep. The professional name for
this is "a half 200 chafing pan with holes." Be sure that
the wholes have a size from 6-7mm [approx. ¼"]!! Some stores
sell pans with smaller holes and you can't use them for your Spaetzle.
Put the Spaetzle mixture in your chafing pan and "drag" the
dough over the holes and the little dumplings will fall into the boiling
water. Don't forget to have a distance of at least 4-5 inches between
the water and your chafing pan and always have salt and neutral vegetable
oil in the water. You need this distance that the boiling water does
not clog the holes of your pan!! Do not put too much dough in the chafing
pan at once; after scraping dough through the holes into the boiling
water and leaving them in for 3-5minutes, remove the spaetzle and then
add more dough in the pot. As soon as all of your dough is in the boiling
water, clean the pan right away in cold water. It's a lot easier to
do this now while the dough has not hardend.
d. Improvised/low budget: Use a strainer with round holes in it. Put
part of the dough into the strainer and press the dough with a spoon
through the holes into the boiling water. As soon as the Spaetzle come
back to the surface - around 3-5 minutes per load - skim, and drain.
5. Fill every
load of Spaetzle into an oven-proof casserole pan, season with pepper
and put a layer of cheese on it. Then the next layer of Spaetzle, pepper,
cheese, etc.
6. Once all the Spaetzle are in the pan, put a final layer of cheese on
top along with the sautéed onions and the remaining butter.
7. Put the pan in the oven and bake for 5 minutes.
8. Done! Eat with a crispy side salad…yummy!
If you have
leftovers, Kaesspaetzle are perfectly re-heated if fried in a pan!
Feel
free to check out some of the cooking links below:
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