Cheesy Spätzle

When I went to Germany two Christmases ago, I didn't think I'd be that enthused about the food. Turns out, it was a pretty delicious country to eat my way around. While I was in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, I got some spaetzle at a food stand in the Christmas market that was prepared like mac & cheese and it was so delicious.

I haven't made any German food on my blog; frankly, I haven't made much German food in general in life. I think this is the perfect inaugural German dish to start with.

Ingredients [serves 4]:
spaetzle
1 cup flour
2 eggs
¼ cup milk
½ teaspoon salt

cheese sauce
3 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic
1 cup milk
2 oz. gruyere cheese, grated
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon nutmeg

The spaetzle batter is super easy to make. Just combine flour, eggs, milk, and salt until homogenous. The batter should have the consistency of toothpaste; it needs to be thin enough to be able to be pushed through a spaetzle maker but thick enough that it doesn't just drip aggressively.

Heat a saucepan over medium and melt some butter with a clove of garlic and cook until lightly golden, on the verge of becoming a nutty brown butter. Honestly, you could stop here and toss the spaetzle in this garlicky brown butter and it would be super delicious.

Add in some milk. It's going to look separated from the butter. Bring the mixture to a boil and this will help emulsify the two liquids together.

Stir in some cheese until it's melted. Stir in some black pepper and nutmeg. And that's the sauce; done. You want to have the cheese sauce ready to go so the finished spaetzle has a place to go.

Use a spaetzle maker or the large holes in a grater to form the spaetzle and drop them directly into boiling water. I used a box grater and it wasn't the easiest process, but it worked. Recently, I tried using a grill basket with similarly-sized holes and it worked well. It's all about ingenuity, people!

Use a spider to fish out the floating spaetzle. Shake to remove excess water and toss into the cheesy sauce. Continue working in batches until all of the batter is used up.

If you want to be a little more indulgent, finish the spaetzle off with another pat of butter, just for some more richness.

I made this to serve alongside some bratwurst. Maybe one day I'll try and make my own sausage; for now, the store bought stuff is actually really good so I don't even care. Actually, I had some sausage in Nuremberg that was really good too that I want to try and make at some point because it's not readily available here.

The spaetzle have such a pleasing texture. They're chewy and soft and taste so good smothered in cheese sauce and it's a flavorsome enough dish to be enjoyed on its own but it's also such a perfect accompaniment for some salty sausage with smothered onions.

Here's the recipe page: