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Spaetzle is the German equivalent of pasta – minus all the tedious kneading, rolling and shaping. This Bavarian staple has been consumed in quantity since Medieval Europe, and possibly even earlier. Simply put, spaetzle are noodles that are made with a thick, eggy batter that is then pressed through holes into boiling water. They cook in mere seconds and when they float to the top they are done.
A million years ago when I was in Germany I ate these in mass quantities, ordering them whenever they were on the menu. I never tired of them due to their versatility. Topped with a thick, meaty ragu or toasted in a pan with butter and garlic, or better yet onion and bacon, I still don’t tire of these little noodley gems.
Apparently I’m not alone; commercially prepared spaetzle are gaining in popularity and can be found in a dried form in many larger supermarkets. Some specialty shops may even sell them ready to heat and serve in a vacuum sealed pack.
RESIST!! I say! These are so ridiculously easy to make with ingredients you have on hand that it is a shame to buy the prepackaged ones. All you need is a device to shape the tiny noodles, and even for that you don’t need a fancy uni-tasker made specifically for the job. I got this tip from the food network – take an aluminum pie pan and poke holes through it with a thick wooden skewer, or some other round implement. Poke the holes through from the pie side out the bottom of the pan. Then just place the pan over your pot of boiling water and using a spatula, press the dough through! And to think I scoured the internet years ago looking for my now nearly worn out spaetzle press…
Spaetzle
(makes enough for 4 side dish servings, well 3 in this family  )
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, beaten
3 tbsp cold water (or so)
1. Combine the flour and salt. Add the beaten egg and mix well with a spatula to remove any lumps. Slowly add the water until you have a thick, sludgy batter than oozes slowly toward the rim of the bowl if you invert it. Let the batter rest for at least 30 minutes to relax the gluten.
2. Heat a pot of water to boiling and salt it. Press the batter through the sieve letting the noodles drop into the water. Do this in 2 batches.
3. Remove the noodles several seconds after they float to the top.
Enjoy the spaetzle with gravy, plain, toasted with bacon or let your imagination soar. I told you they were easy!
Oh ya, and they’re even better the next day so make a double batch!
I’m not entirely sure how this particular cookbook ended up in my VAST collection. It must have been some time during the turmoil of my catering days, but it has sat for some time, neglected, on my shelf and I decided to take it down, dust it off and give it a good once over.
There he is on the cover, arms crossed and imposing look on his face. I would have liked to have seen a more welcoming mug shot on the cover of this cookbook especially considering that these recipes are not for the novice chef. Oh he tells you pleasantly enough in the introduction, to not be a slave to the directions but I tell ya, even this seasoned and practiced chef would be pouring over the directions to his recipe for Braised Pork in a Rich Glaze (page 68) which involves cutting the meat from the back of pork ribs then tying them into a roast before caramelizing, braising then reducing followed by sauteing and pureeing the suggested side dishes. I tell ya, there are more advanced techniques in this one recipe than I’ve seen in a long time!
Not only is this not a book for novice cooks, it is also going to be a stretch for the home cook. Butcher’s twine, guinea hens, quail, pasta roller, caviar, duck eggs…well you get the picture. These are certainly not items found in the average home cook’s kitchen, nor are these specialty ingredients found in Small Town USA or in your local supermarket. And this brings me to the my next point about the recipes themselves.
I find the choice of included recipes to be somewhat arrogant. Ramsay is trying to market this book in tandem with his Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen programming as evidenced by the large notice on the cover of the book stating: As seen on the hit FOX TV show HELL’S KITCHEN, so why would he select recipes that are for the most part, oh so very British? Fondue of Lettuce (page 126), Calf’s Liver with Fried Polenta (page 81) and Confit of Duck in Savoy Cabbage (page65) are a few that come to mind. These are not recipes that are going to appeal to the average American Joe, and this book is full of recipes like this.
What I DO like about the book is the little sidebar tips and techniques. Most pages are adorned with some bit of kitchen wisdom that either extrapolates on a technique used in the recipe, ideas about how to present or what to serve alongside or tips such as scoring the fish skin to allow the marinade to set in better.
I also like the pictures. My mother swore to never buy a cookbook without pictures and I guess this kind of stuck with me as well. There’s not a picture on every page but there are enough full color pictures to show you the true beauty of his dishes. Plus, it is useful to have pictures of the process of making a ballotine and the finished product for those who’ve never done technique before.
Finally, each recipe is prefaced by a brief blurb in authentic Ramsay voice. He briefly touches on the history of an ingredient in the dish, the story behind the recipe, the explanation of a word in the recipe title, or myriad other little curiosities that lend the book a distinct personality.
In general this is a great book and I would recommend it be added to any cookbook library. Like I said though, this is a book that novices would fear and while there are some recipes in there such as Veal and Foie Gras Meat Loaf with Tomato Relish (page 79) that would remain untested, there are others like Saffron Shellfish Risotto that would be eagerly tried by many. For that reason alone I’m not sure I’d pay the full $29.99 value as stated on the back cover, but find it in a garage sale on in the used bookstore and I’d pick it up for sure.
Last spring there was a very damaging hail storm in our area that not only polka dotted our cars but put an end to the barbeque that I had been lovingly using for close to ten years. Granted, it was a cheap BBQ to begin with and the flames were huge due to the gas pipes corroding and the entire thing was probably an accident waiting to happen, but I LOVED dancing with those flames in an intricate dance of trying to cook and not char our dinner.
So it was with some sadness and trepidation that we set out in search of the replacement grill. We found the grill of our dreams at a reasonable price and dear hubby spend the better part of the afternoon assembling it.
Sure, there are 12 million different barbeques out there but I wanted one with a rotisserie burner and that SIGNIFICANTLY lowered the playing field. We went from hundreds of options down to perhaps a fifth.
Can I just say that I LOVE my rotisserie? We had to buy the long metal rotisserie shaft and a separate engine to turn the shaft, but that was a minor inconvenience in order to take full advantage of the rotisserie burner that was alongside the back of the BBQ.
Rotissering is foolproof, and a shame that more home cooks don’t use this technique. It’s all about the marinade. Remember there are a few essential components to a good marinade and they are as follows:
- fat, like olive oil or butter or some other liquid to disperse the marinade to cover the meat
- acid, good choices are wine, balsamic vinegar, lime juice, lemon juice, other flavored vinegars
- aromatics, like garlic, onion, fennel, carrot, celery etc
- spices, dried or fresh
Some great marinade ideas are:
- Oriental – olive oil, soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, ginger, onion and cilantro
- Southwestern – olive oil, garlic, chipotle, cilantro, onion, lime juice, cumin
- Continental – olive oil, fines herbes, shallots, white wine, garlic
- German – olive oil, fennel, garlic, onion, red wine
It is a common misconception that marinades need to have salt in them. In fact, the marinades you buy from the supermarket are loaded with that EVIL sodium nonsense. Make your own, it’s so much healthier.
So then, with marinade in hand, you just need meat. Beef, chicken, pork, whole fish…something substantial that will hold up on the rotisserie skewer. So now just marinade your protein, let it sit in the fridge for 4 hours or better yet, overnight, then skewer it and let it cook, baby!
Mmm, I’m hungry already!
So I love watching Gordon Ramsay. I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon that claims he’s the greatest chef to have ever lived, but I will say that the guy has a certain harsh, take-no-crap kind of attitude that I can relate to and love watching.
Kitchen Nightmares has begun their new season and the first episode was Ramsay rescuing this tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Hot Potato Cafe. I won’t go into all the details about how he gets this tiny, family run establishment back on their feet but I will say that all that talk about potato dishes got me craving some hot and creamy soup made with my favorite tuber.
A quick google search revealed a bevvy of recipes using everything from horseradish to beets and back again. I wanted a simple yet delicious potato soup to really highlight the last few Yukon gold taters I had in the fridge. So this is what I did:
Cream of Yukon Gold Potato Soup
1 cup diced yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cups chicken stock or broth (low sodium, preferably homemade!)
2 lbs Yukon gold
1/2 cup heavy cream
tiny pinch of cayenne
salt and pepper
crumbled bacon, sliced green onion and sharp cheddar cheese for a garnish
1. Sweat the onions and garlic in the oil until tender and translucent. Don’t let them get brown.
2. Add the chicken broth and chunk up your potatoes and add them to the liquid. Let them simmer until the potatoes are VERY soft.
3. Using a food processor or immersion blender, blend the broth and potato mixture until thick and creamy. Pour it back into the pot and bring it up to a bare simmer.
4. Check the consistency of your soup. If it is not thick enough let the soup simmer a few more minutes to reduce to desired thickness. If it is too thick you can add a splash of milk to thin it out. Add the cream when you have reached desired consistency.
5. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. You don’t want your soup to be spicy but the cayenne adds a nice subtle layer of flavor that enhances the taters. Trust me!
6. Garnish with the bacon, onion and cheese - the best part!! – and enjoy!
I tell ya, as the working-from-home mother of two, the end of my day is punctuated with my knitting, my carefully chosen and DVR’d show on the TV and my pomegranate martini. And I also tell ya, some days it seems like this is the ONLY formula of elements that allows me to retain my fragile sanity. So, for all you over-worked and under rested moms who need a simple to make yet uber delicious (and healthy!!!) drink to end your day, this one is for you:
Pomegranate Martini
1 ounce citrus vodka
1 ounce pomegranate liqueur
1 ounce cranberry juice
ice
1. Combine the liquids in a drink shaker that contains about 1 cup of ice cubes (this isn’t science, don’t go crazy trying to measure one cup of ice cubes, guestimate already!)
2. Secure the lid on the shaker and take your frustrations out on that baddie, shaking until the liquid looks frothy. About 1 minute should do it. Longer if you’ve had a particularly bad day. DO not do this if your kids are light sleepers. If they are step out into the backyard then shake like crazy.
3. Pour into a martini glass, take a deep breath, and relax!
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