Yesterdish’s Spaetzle

Hi friends, it’s Dori again. I’m visiting my parents for a couple of days, so I let my mother pick the recipe this week.

I was a little surprised when she picked spaetzle. I was sure that we were going to be making cheesecakes (she makes wonderful cheesecakes). Not that I just let her pick the recipe because I wanted cheesecake. That would be mean. Also, it apparently doesn’t work.

The key to making spaetzle is how you get it in the water.

Anyway, spaetzle is delicious too. I feel like I should put a disclaimer though, that this isn’t the most traditional spaetzle recipe you’ll find. My mother loves to mix cuisines. She puts rosemary in potato latkes (not traditional, oddly delicious) and parsley in hamburgers (they taste like meatballs). This recipe is no exception.

Spaetzle is a German pasta-like dish that’s actually closer to a dumpling than a noodle. It’s really delicious and it’s traditionally served with sausage-type meat and some kind of sauce situation.

Her preparation wouldn’t be too far off if it weren’t for the one weird ingredient: Persillade. Persillade is a fancy French word for a mixture garlic, parsley, and olive oil. It’s kind of wonderful. [Toss a head of garlic, a teaspoon of salt, and a couple handfuls of parsley into the food processor and stream in olive oil while it’s running until you have a paste. The salt helps preserve it; it lasts about week in the fridge. — Adam]

I keep some in a plastic container in the freezer and I add it to just about everything, but especially potatoes. I feel like Adam is going to insert something here and tell you more about it. So yeah, what he says.

[Persillade is the hallmark of French home cooking, where it’s used to finish lots of things, like chops and steaks, either with oil or as part of a compound butter. It’s insanely useful to have handy. It makes an amazing salad dressing when mixed with lemon juice and an egg yolk. — Adam]

The key to making spaetzle is how you get it in the water. My mother owns a spaetzle maker — you can see it in the pictures. I do not own one because I’m a normal person. I actually use a food mill (biggest holes, if you have options), but you can totally use a colander. just plop the dough inside and push it out with a wooden spoon.

Once you’ve made it, there are so many ways to serve it. A favorite German dish involves mixing it with cheese (German mac and cheese!). I like to toast it in a pan with vegetables. You can see that we served it with roast beef and broccoli. It. was. delicious.

From Yesterdish’s recipe box.

---