Sherrie's Käsespätzle

Sherrie's Käsespätzle

My friend Sherrie had just come back from a trip to Germany when she saw my post for Mac 'n Cheese and kindly asked me if I'd like to learn how to make the German version called, Käsespätzle. I haven't done much German cooking, despite being born in Germany, so I immediately agreed. Upon looking Käsespätzle up, I discovered that it's a casserole made of Spätzle (homemade German egg noodles), butter-browned onions and cheese. Hearty German comfort food...perfect for those pesky wintry nights. Sounds great, huh? It is! Sherrie was nice enough to let me take some photos of her making the Käsespätzle to go along with the recipe. She also let me in on the secret that Käsespätzle tastes even more amazing the next day when you take a cold serving and fry it. It gets that yummy crunchy texture that most of us love.

Danke, Sherrie!


Sherrie's Käsespätzle

Ingredients

2 onions (peeled and thinly sliced)

1 cube butter

1/2 lb Emmentaler Cheese (we grated a lb. but only ended up using about half of it)

2 eggs

3/4 cup vegetable broth

1.5 cup  flour

1/4 t salt


Special Equipment

Spätzle maker (if you're MacGyver-like, you could make a makeshift one from a colander or potato press)


Instructions

- Combine eggs, broth, flour and salt in a bowl and beat until it's the consistency of pancake batter.  Set batter aside.

- Place a heavy bottomed pan on med-high heat. Add butter. Add sliced onions. Cook until onions start to gain a brown color. Reduce heat to low, cover and allow onions to brown slowly. Stir every once in awhile. You want the onions to be browned but not overly caramelized, so stop before they they get too dark.

- Place Spätzle maker over a large pot of boiling water.

- Press the batter through the Spätzle press. (The kind that Sherrie used had a flat piece that you could run across the maker, helping the batter to get pushed through.)

- The batter will form little noodle "dumplings " that will drop down into the boiling water. They'll rise to the surface when done cooking.

- Use a slotted spoon or sieve to strain the noodles out and place them in a large bowl or casserole dish.

- Repeat the process until the batter is used up.

- While you're scooping the noodles into the casserole dish:  in between each layer of noodles, sprinkle a generous amount of the Emmentaler Cheese. The cheese will melt from the heat of the noodles. Once melted, mix the noodles and cheese together.

- Sprinkle the top of the Spätzle with the browned onions and serve while hot.

other keywords: spaetzle