Spätzle

Recipe by:

Servings: 6

Prep time: 1:15

Categories: German, Side Dish

Item	Amount	Measure	Note
water	2	quarts	boiling
salt	1	teaspoon
butter	1/4	cup
flour, unbleached all-purpose	3	cups
eggs	4	large	beaten
nutmeg	1/4	teaspoon

Sift flour, salt and nutmeg together in a bowl. Pour eggs and 1/4 cup water into the middle of the flour mixture and beat with a wooden spoon. Add enough water to make the dough slightly sticky, yet keeping it elastic and stiff. Using a spätzle machine or a colander with medium holes, press the dough--in batches of about 3/4 cup--into the boiling water. Cook about 5 minutes or until they rise to the surface.

Lift noodles out and drain on paper towels. Brown the noodles in melted butter over low heat.

The former proprieter of Bavarian Meats of Greenville (South Carolina), a German native, told me that the consistency of the spätzle dough should be similar to "chewed chewing gum."