How to make spätzle? The original recipe of “It’s always noon”

Today we speak, indeed we cook, German because we see how to make spätzle. Typical Tyrolean dumplings cooked following Antonella Clerici’s recipe at “È semper mezzogiorno”.

Spätzle are a typical recipe of southern Germany, but they are also very often eaten in upper Italy, therefore in Alto Adige and Trentino, and then in Switzerland. Their name , spätzle, literally means sparrows, and there are different ways of preparing them: they can in fact be passed through a special tool, cut by hand using a special board or with a knife or spoon.

As for the dressing of spätzle, meat sauces are usually preferred, or cheese creams or simply melted and flavored butter or cooking cream . In an episode of “ È semper mezzogiorno ” with Antonella Clerici , they were served with delicious pumpkin cream and crispy speck. In Germany they are often eaten as a side dish to other dishes. The variations are many, very famous are the spinach spärzle with a wonderful color and intense flavor.

Preparation of the spätzle

1. To prepare your spätzle, pour the 00 flour into a bowl. In the center, pour the eggs lightly beaten with a fork, a pinch of salt and then mix by adding water – preferably sparkling – at room temperature.
2. Also add the nutmeg (not too much) and a pinch of black pepper.
3. Mix the mixture well with a hand whisk, to form a homogeneous batter, which must, when you drop it from the spoon, form drops.
4. When the consistency feels right, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and start dropping the batter drops through the special spätzle tool, which is similar to a grater. Alternatively, there are also tablets, from which to obtain perfect spätzle with the help of a small spoon.
5. When they come back to the surface, wait another minute and drain them.
6. Season them as you prefer, even if only with plenty of butter and with a few cubes of speck passed in a pan to make it crunchy, without forgetting a nice sprinkling of grated cheese.

The variant: spinach spätzle

A version of the most famous and which is often appreciated even more than the original is that of spätzle with spinach. The realization is also very simple, you only have to add to the dough (with the doses we have recommended) about 150 g of spinach previously boiled in hot salted water. If you see that the mixture is then too soft you can use only 2 eggs and decrease the water by about 50 ml, or add a little more flour (but not too much otherwise when cooked they will become too hard.

storage

This delicious dish (in both versions) should be eaten at the moment, just ready and nice and hot. You can also keep them for up to one day in the refrigerator and reheat them if necessary before serving. We do not recommend freezing in the freezer.