Now for something completely different;: Spätzle mit Schnitzel!

Ich bin ein Schnitzel - or if I continue to eat any more of them, I will look like one.

The final outcome

Visiting Germany earlier this month to see flickr friends, I was presented with this fine spätzle press and a family recipe for the ratios of the ingredients. Having spent some time travelling since I got home from that trip, tonight was the first good opportunity to make spätzle and of course, schnitzel to go with it.

It turned out perfectly - the spätzle were of the right consistency and behaved exactly as I was told they would (a little rowdy in the pot at first with some singing, but floating like dead fish ultimately). A very pleasant outcome.

My love affair with schnitzel began when I was a lad living in Germany in the mid-1970s. A local restaurant I frequented with my parents did a great schnitzel and I seem to remember it being the dish I always ordered - the variation being whether it had a sauce or not.

To have eaten at Onkel Otto's in Stuttgart this month brought back some of those memories and now with a spätzle press, I can make this fine meal any time I like. So much better than the stuff in a box.

Making the meal

Preparing the veal (you can use chicken or turkey if you prefer - or pork even). I'd already procured very thin strips of veal so didn't have to use my nice new meat basher. Flour, egg and breadcrumb trays ready for preparing the veal.

The preparation area

Having breaded the meat, it's fried in a reasonable amount of olive oil. Clearly this doesn't allow for the higher temperatures but it's what I normally use. The tip here is to use a good deal of oil, enough so that the meat can almost float in it. This way the breading doesn't stick to the pan which is what leads to oily food.

In progress

So here are the final schnitzels. For this meal, I opted to cook the meat first before tackling the noodles.

Resting schnitzel

Spätzle

Now for the Spätzle - I opted to make 2/5th the quantity in Carmen's recipe since it would be enough. Her recipe differed a bit from the one that came with the Spätzle Press so I opted to use hers - a more authentic and trusted source. Flour - 500g, Eggs 5, Water 200ml and some salt. This, I cut down to start with 200g of flour.

As you can see, it's a firmly bound dough that is stiff. Well mixed (by fork), this mix literally filled the chamber of the Spätzle Press so it worked out very well. I used a silicone spatula to clean out the mixing jug.