Tag Archives: spaetzle

Pasta

Posted on November 23, 2015 | 1 comment

What can I say? My husband’s favorite dinner is spaghetti and meatballs. He’s made it twice. Dry pasta, bottled sauce, pre-made meatballs from my butcher, and authentic parmigiano reggiano.

And there were so many pots, pans, dishes to clean up and tomato sauce all over the wall. Yes, there’s a reason he’s not allowed in my kitchen. I plan, shop, prep, cook and clean up.

The other day I’d made a beef stew and wanted something other than rice to use as a base. I decided on spaetzle, which I’d made once before. I found a recipe and my husband has been buying me gadgets for years so he decided to use the food mill we got at a great hardware store in Texas. He was so impressed as he milled the batter into boiling water and seeing it done in less than a minute. I made the batter, after they were cooked I just placed them in a pan with a little butter, salt and pepper and sauteed them for a couple of minutes.

Sunday we had more beef stew. I’ve a hand-crank pasta machine I’ve never used, must have bought it well before I met my husband. Fresh from spaetzle, he wanted to use the machine. I’d made pasta in cooking school and a very rich version on my culinary apprenticeship. We took the middle ground on richness.

I did it by hand, well method. Kneaded ten minutes and let it rest. Made 1/2 the recipe and cut the result in half. Gave him my secret recipe for rolling, from across the counter. I cut the sheets and made the fettucini into tiny nests, about 2 oz. each. We enjoyed our Sunday lunch and have a couple of nests leftover.

Spaghetti and meatballs are fine from time to time, but not three dinners per week. Pasta is a good thing, especially with Italian OO flour. I’m thinking potato gnocchi, and perhaps ravioli with ricotta and a sage brown butter sauce. Dee’s cooking school is up and running!

My husband doesn’t know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich. I introduced him to Harold McGee’s scientific treatise and now, besides math and physics, he sees that I actually know a bit of science through my cooking. Welcome to the club, m’dear. No, you’re not allowed to mess up the walls anymore! Cheers! Dee

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Choices

Posted on November 20, 2015 | 1 comment

I love my husband. I have many books with recipes in them, good books, some of the best, he has a book called Numerical Recipes. We’re both technicians of a sort, a very different sort who happen to get along together.

Last night I made a classic Beef Carbonnade (beef, onions, bacon and beer) stew that I let simmer for a few hours. I decided to make spaetzle, something my father would like. I used a recipe from Tyler Florence http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/spaetzle-recipe.html and just added a bit more milk. Probably atmospheric conditions and that I used Italian 00 flour.

I try to multi-task both in kitchen work and appliances. There are few items out on the counter, and minimal storage space so I choose gadgets wisely. The first tools I used in cooking school were a chef’s and a paring knife. I still use them but have changed to an 8″ Santoku and 8″ ceramic blade. Yes, I’ve at least 12 knives up on the magnetic strip, easy to access even for a left-hander.

When my husband is out at a specialty hardware store and sees something he thinks I need, he buys it. He knows 5% of what I know about cooking but likes the science and mechanics of it. PLEASE don’t let him find Harold McGee on the bottom shelf as he’ll read it and drive me bonkers! He remembers everything, even what is the difference between baking soda and baking powder. He doesn’t understand, as a physicist, why bakers need both. Double indemnity? I don’t bake. I cook.

So, back to the spaetzle. Simple recipe, and he chose the best tool with which to drop the drops into boiling water. NO, don’t go buy a spaetzle maker, dearest. We can use your old college colander. You got me a potato ricer. At the specialty hardware store over the years you also bought me a food mill.

Food mill, he said. I poured the mixture I made into the food mill with the largest disc while he stirred, poised over the boiling pot of salted water and watched the nubbins come to the top. We took them out with a Chinese mesh “spider.” Then they went into butter with a bit of salt and pepper and were perfect with our tender, tasty Carbonnade.

Teamwork. After we were done I said congratulations, dear, you just made pasta. I did? He’s very proud. There’s a lot more Carbonnade so he may decide to make his own spaetzle tonight.

My fear is that he does not do mis en place, asks for every step, uses every pot and pan in the kitchen and thinks dinner ends with dinner. No clean-up. That’s why he’s only allowed in to get ice, water or Dr. Pepper. Cheerily, Dee

 

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How Do You Solve a Problem…

Posted on October 11, 2010 | 2 comments

like Dee. One of my favorite movies of all time is one I saw when it emerged in the theaters, perhaps three times, then again on tv, VHS and disc. The Sound of Music, and the problem “Maria” I was today. I’ve many more than her faults and found little redemption in my cooking today.

Let’s start at the very beginning. My husband is having some oral surgery done tomorrow so I plan to make a hearty soup for tomorrow night and wanted a memorable meal. I wanted to make pork with roasted apples and looked into spaetzle, a dough that is pressed into boiling water then drained and usually sauteed in butter. I had the wet and dry ingredients for spaetzle ready to mix together and sit for 10-15 minutes before boiling but Jim was late. Very late. When I called I thought he’d be at the office until after 8:00 p.m. and put everything in the frig.

Forget the apples and cider gravy. I made the best boneless pork ever (marinated in olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme and sage for over an hour) that was coated with flour and sauteed. I had the wrong equipment for the spaetzle. I tried to push it through a colander. It didn’t work and I ended up adding a little milk to loosen the batter. It worked for the most part. Then I briefly sauteed it and added chopped parsley.

I do have a potato ricer but it’s in storage half a country away. Live and learn. The pork was fantastic and I’ll learn more about spaetzle as it was a specialty of my grandmother. It’s easy to make and I’ll check out other recipes and let you know when I’m happy with them. Thanks for reading! Do Re Mi, Dee

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