Saturday, February 26, 2011

Spaetzle- This Time Very Orange

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Now playing: Kasabian - Orange
via FoxyTunes

Sweet Potato Spaetzle with White Wine Sweet Potato Sauce



You can, of course make this dish less orange, but just as healthy and tasty with a lighter color variety of sweet potato.


Spaetzle ingredients:



2 c. flour
2 tbsp. semolina
1 sweet potato cubed, boiled until tender and mashed
5 eggs
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 c. minced fresh parsley

Mix thoroughly with a mixer.

The next thing is forming the noodle. I usually make a stiffer dough and use my trusty press. You can see the press in action in another of my blog postings:

http://i-want-my-umami.blogspot.com/search?q=spaetzle+101





My spaetzle press:




I realize that not everyone has, or wants to invest in a spaetzle press. Here is one of several traditional methods for producing spaetzle:


This method uses a board and you can spread the noodle dough over it near the edge. Next cut away the dough and slide it off the side into a big pot of boiling water. When the noodles rise to the top strain them out with a slotted spoon and into a bowl (or skillet that has a knob of melted butter, or sprayed with a olive oil spray). Then; when you have a full batch add to the sauce, or first toast them in a skillet until lightly browned, then add them to the sauce.




Sauce ingredients:



1 c. white wine
1 tsp. thyme
1 clove garlic, sliced
Sprig of parsley
1 tbsp. peppercorns
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 sweet potato, cubed then boiled until tender and mashed until smooth
1/2 c. heavy cream, or lower fat/calorie alternative

Reduce the wine by half by boiling with thyme, sliced garlic, parsley and peppercorns. Strain liquid. Discard thyme, garlic, peppercorns and parsley. Then, add vegetable stock, sweet potato and cream to the liquid. Incorporate throughly and thin with more stock, or water to desired consistency. Keep warm.

This dish calls for being adorned with caramelized onions and grated gruyere on top!


Caramelized onions:

One onion cut in half, then sliced. Spray a pan with olive oil spray, add onions and a tbsp. of brown sugar. Brown slowly on low heat, stir often. When browned and the kitchen is smelling lovely and people come out of the woodwork to see what is cooking, add a tsp. balsamic vinegar. Stir this in and keep warm.

Garnish with more minced parsley.

Best when served with a local beer!


This will be plenty for 4 people as a generous main dish.

2 comments:

  1. i love the name of your blog, made me smile!
    I've never made spaetzle, it looks quite tricky, but the end results look utterly delicious!

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  2. Thanks for the comments.

    I think spaetzle is quite easy to make really. You should try it sometime! :-)

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