Recipe - Spaetzli Or Spaetzle (Egg Noodles)

3 cup Flour; Unbleached
1 teaspoon Salt
One fourth teaspoon Nutmeg (optional)
4 Eggs; Large, Beaten
One half cup (or more) Water
One fourth cup Butter

Sift flour, salt and nutmeg together in a bowl. Pour eggs and One fourth cup
water into middle of flour mixture, beat with a wooden spoon. Add enough
water to make the dough slightly sticky, yet keeping it elastic and stiff.
Using a spaetzle machine or a colander with medium holes, press the noodles
into a large pot full of boiling salted water. Cook noodles in the water
about 5 minutes or until they rise to the surface. Lift noodles out and
drain on paper towels. Brown noodles in melted butter over low heat, and
serve with a main dish. Or, don't bother browning them, and serve in/with
soup, or with stew.

(Another method for shaping the noodles is to spread the mixture on a
wooden board and cut off little pieces, dropping them in the boiling water
and fishing them out quickly when they're done.)

(Be prepared to write off your first few attempts at spaetzle, by the way.)
They are very laborintensive, and a little miscalculation with the time in
the hot water can ruin them.

Posted to MMRecipes Digest V5 #012 by BobbieB1 BobbieB1@aol.com on Jan
11, 1998