A wrench was thrown into my original plan to use some chicken thighs that I purchased over the weekend, when a delivery of meat that I had ordered on a special deal arrived, less than frozen. I planned to keep it all in the freezer until I was ready to use it but now, it seems, we need to eat it all this week since it's already defrosted. So instead of those chicken thighs, I opted for a couple of peppercorn-marinated steaks, but I needed a side dish. I pulled another binder off of my shelf and started sorting through side dishes, looking for something that I had all the ingredients for, and also that would go well with steak. I found it, when I happened upon Spaetzle Baked with Ham and Gruyere. I couldn't believe I had all the ingredients to make this - it looked delicious!
I set to work, bringing a pot of water to boil on the stove, pre-heating the oven to 375 degrees, and starting in on my spaetzle dough. Spaetzle is a small dumpling made by pushing dough through small holes into boiling water. There was a lot of spaetzle to be had in Germany, and we tried it sauteed, and boiled but this recipe calls for it to be baked, like a casserole, so I was intrigued! To make the dough, I mixed flour, salt and baking powder together by sifting it all together through a sieve. To this mixture, I added milk and two eggs. Once it was all mixed together, I let it stand for ten minutes.
Meanwhile, I gathered the rest of my ingredients. I diced some ham and white onion, I shredded some Gruyere cheese, and I also put together the mixture that would be poured over the spaetzle before baking (more milk, more eggs, salt, pepper and flour).
Once the water was boiling, I placed my Spaetzle Maker
over my pot and began to spoon the dough into the opening. It looks like a cheese grater, and has a mechanism that swipes the dough over the holes, pushing it into the water in little droplets. It's an extremely easy way to make spaetzle! If you don't have a spaetzle maker, and don't want to buy one just to try one recipe, you can use any sort of colander with larger-sized holes in it. A cheese grater would probably work as well, on the larger-holed setting. Once I had pushed all the dough into the water, I allowed it to cook for about 2-3 minutes before scooping them out into a colander to drain. Don't put them on paper towels - the spaetzle will stick!
over my pot and began to spoon the dough into the opening. It looks like a cheese grater, and has a mechanism that swipes the dough over the holes, pushing it into the water in little droplets. It's an extremely easy way to make spaetzle! If you don't have a spaetzle maker, and don't want to buy one just to try one recipe, you can use any sort of colander with larger-sized holes in it. A cheese grater would probably work as well, on the larger-holed setting. Once I had pushed all the dough into the water, I allowed it to cook for about 2-3 minutes before scooping them out into a colander to drain. Don't put them on paper towels - the spaetzle will stick!
Now it was time to put everything together! I browned the diced onion in a pan coated with cooking spray for about five minutes, and removed it from the heat before adding the ham and mixing it together. The spaetzle was then put into a two-quart baking dish, and mixed with the onions and ham to distribute everything evenly. I poured the milk mixture over the spaetzle and then sprinkled the grated gruyere cheese all over the top! See the before:
And the after:
After 35 minutes in the oven, the cheese became golden brown and crispy on top, and everything firmed up to make a delicious spaetzle "casserole." The flavors are really great, for such little seasoning throughout the cooking process. This dish went SO well with the steak, and was a really hearty dish. This one is definitely a keeper! Now, to type it up for my digital cookbook!
The original recipe can be found here.
Looks great and I love spaetzle!!
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