Apfelspätzle

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large mixing bowl
• •Wooden spoon
• •Spätzle board and scraper, colander, or Spätzle press
• •Large pot
• •Slotted spoon
• •Wide frying pan, 28 to 30cm

Instructions

1. 1

   Beat the dough

   Put the flour, eggs, milk or water, salt, and nutmeg in a bowl and beat hard with a wooden spoon for 5 to 7 minutes, until the dough is thick, elastic, and falls from the spoon in slow ribbons. Beat it until it blisters. That beating gives Spätzle their chew; a barely mixed batter cooks up slack and woolly.

   The dough should be softer than bread dough and thicker than pancake batter. If it runs like cream, add a spoon of flour; if it tears stiffly, beat in a splash of milk. The scraper should push it, not pour it.
2. 2

   Rest and heat

   Let the dough stand for 10 minutes while you bring a large pot of salted water to a tremble, not a violent boil. Resting lets the flour hydrate so the dough scrapes cleanly, and gentle water keeps the fresh noodles intact instead of knocking them apart.

3. 3

   Scrape the Spätzle

   Set a wet Spätzle board, colander, or press over the pot and work the dough into the water in batches. Cook each batch until the noodles float, then give them 30 seconds more so the centres set. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and spread them on a tray; piling them deep traps moisture and makes them stick.

4. 4

   Brown the butter

   Melt the butter in a wide frying pan over medium heat until it foams, quiets, and smells nutty, with golden flecks on the bottom. Use a wide pan because the apples need contact with heat; a cramped pan makes juice before colour, and juice is the enemy of caramel.

5. 5

   Caramelise the apples

   Add the apple wedges, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice to the browned butter and cook for 4 to 6 minutes, turning gently, until the edges are golden and the centres still hold their shape. The acid keeps the apple lively and the short cooking keeps it in pieces. Cook it to mush and you've lost the dish.

6. 6

   Toss and finish

   Add the Spätzle to the pan and toss until they are coated in the cinnamon butter and warmed through, 2 to 3 minutes. If the pan looks wet, raise the heat for a minute so the butter clings instead of pooling. Taste before serving. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss: a tiny pinch of salt at the end makes the apple taste more like apple.

7. 7

   Serve at once

   Scatter over the fresh breadcrumbs if you want a little dry crunch against the butter, then serve straight from the pan or in warm bowls. Weggeworfen wird nichts: yesterday's plain bread makes the crumbs, and it does the job better than anything from a packet.

Chef Tips

• •Use tart apples. Boskoop is the old answer if you can get it, because it keeps a sharp edge under butter and cinnamon; a very sweet apple makes the plate flat.
• •A Spätzle press is useful, but the board and scraper teach you the dough faster. If it scrapes in short, rough noodles, you're close. If it pours, tighten it with flour.
• •Keep the cooking water below a hard boil. Fresh Spätzle are tender when they go in, and rough water tears them before the egg has set.
• •Brown the butter before the apples go in. Butter browns only while its water cooks off; add apples too early and their juice holds the pan back.
• •Serve with a sharp green salad if this is supper. The vinegar on the leaves keeps the sweet butter from getting heavy.

Advance Preparation

• •The Spätzle dough can rest up to 1 hour at room temperature, covered. Beat it again before scraping because the flour keeps drinking liquid as it stands.
• •Plain cooked Spätzle can be made 1 day ahead, cooled on a tray, lightly oiled, and refrigerated. Toss them longer in the butter so they warm through before the apples overcook.
• •Do not cook the apples ahead. They lose their edges as they sit, and Apfelspätzle need apple pieces, not compote.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 350g)