Kässpatzen
Spätzle with cheese = Kässpatzen. Sort of a German Mac 'n Cheese dish - just better.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups all purpose flour
- 5 eggs or 3 whole eggs and 3 egg yolks
- 4 onions or more...
- 2 oz water if needed to get the consistency right
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 cups shredded cheeses Comte, Tilsit, Swiss, Gruyere, Fontina .., anything with good flavor that melts
- 4 tbs butter
Instructions
Caramelized Onions
- Chop the onions fairly small. Either slice thinly or just chop them up into a fine dice. Yes, using your food processor is ok.
- Add half a stick (4 tbs) or more if you like to a preheated pan on medium high. Add the chopped onions and a generous sprinkle of kosher salt. Stir.
- Once the onions start to develop a little bit of color, turn the heat down to low or medium low and slowly caramelize them until almost black. This takes anywhere from half and hour to an hour and you should check them often and stir.
Spätzle
- While the onions are caramelizing, bring a large pot of salted water to a slow boil.
- Mix the flour, a generous dash of salt and the eggs with dough hooks or a wooden spoon until thoroughly combined. Try to work some air into it. You want a batter like consistency that's very viscous and just barely drops off a spoon. Add a dash of water if needed.
- Follow the instructions in my Spätzle video. Either use a Spätzlehobel or Spätzlepresse to drip the dough into the slow boiling water. If you lack these implements, you can use a colander with large holes or a perforated pan and a spatula. Lacking that too, just shave them off a board with a spatula or back of a large knife. You want either teardrop shapes (using implements) or about 1/8th of an inch thick around 2 or 3 inch long "noodles".
- Once the Spätzle float up, extract with a wooden spoon. Retain some of the cooking water to add to your final dish.
- Mix the Spätzle with the grated or shredded cheese mix. Add a dash of the cooking water or a little hot water if you use left-over Spätzle. Season to taste. Do this last as many cheeses add a lot of salt so chances are you don't have to season at all.
- Top with a generous helping of the caramelized onions and serve right away. This is the kind of dish that doesn't wait for people to eat it: people have to wait for it or it will set up and turn into a cheesy brick.