Schwäbische Maultaschen

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Rolling pin or pasta machine
• •Large floured board
• •Pastry brush
• •Sharp knife or pastry wheel
• •Wide pot for simmering

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dough

   Mix the flour, eggs, oil, and salt into a firm pasta dough, adding water only if the flour stays dry in the bowl. Knead it for 8 to 10 minutes, until smooth and tight, because a lazy dough tears when the filling swells in the pot. Wrap it and rest it 30 minutes; rested dough rolls thin without fighting you.

2. 2

   Dry the greens

   Wilt the spinach in a covered pan with only the water clinging to its leaves, then rinse it cold, squeeze it hard, and chop it fine. Water left in spinach makes the filling loose, and loose filling leaks. Soak the bread roll in milk for 10 minutes, then squeeze it dry as well; the bread binds the meat, but only after the spare milk is gone.

   Keep the spinach water and bread milk out of the filling. Moist is good. Wet is a split pocket.
3. 3

   Cook the onion

   Melt the butter and cook the chopped onion and leek gently until soft and sweet, about 8 minutes, without browning them hard. Raw onion tastes sharp inside a closed pocket, and burnt onion turns the whole filling bitter. Let the mixture cool before it meets the meat, because warm onion starts softening the fat too soon.

4. 4

   Mix the filling

   Combine the minced meat, Brät or sausage meat, smoked ham, squeezed spinach, squeezed bread, cooled onion mixture, egg, parsley, mustard, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Mix with your hand until it just holds together and looks speckled green and pink, not smeared grey. Fine enough to bind, rough enough to stay tender. Das braucht seine Zeit, but not a beating.

5. 5

   Roll and fill

   Roll the dough into long sheets about 1.5mm thick, dusting lightly so it doesn't stick. Lay spoonfuls of filling in a line along one half, leaving space between them, then brush the edges and gaps with water. Fold the dough over and press firmly around each mound, pushing out trapped air because air expands in the broth and opens the seam.

6. 6

   Cut and seal

   Cut the pockets into rectangles, about 8 by 10cm, and press the edges with the side of your hand or a fork. Don't make them tiny. Maultaschen are broad Swabian pockets, not fiddly restaurant parcels. Set them on a floured board and cover them while you finish the batch, because dry edges crack instead of sealing.

7. 7

   Poach gently

   Bring the broth to a bare simmer, not a rolling boil, and slide in the Maultaschen in batches. Poach 10 to 12 minutes, until the dough is tender and the pockets feel firm but not tight. Boiling batters the edges open; simmering lets the filling cook through while the dough stays whole. Runter mit der Temperatur.

8. 8

   Serve two ways

   Serve them whole in the hot broth with parsley, or lift them out, slice thick, and brown them in butter with the sliced onions until the cut faces turn golden. In broth is clean and Sunday-like; fried is what you want the next day with potato salad. Weggeworfen wird nichts, and leftover Maultaschen are not a problem.

Chef Tips

• •Use some Brät or fine sausage meat if you can get it. It brings salt, fat, and bind to the filling, which is why Swabian Maultaschen hold together without eating dry.
• •Squeeze spinach harder than feels polite. If it still drips when you press it, it will loosen the filling and push at the dough seams.
• •Good broth matters because half the dish may be served in it. Nicht aus dem Glas. Use a real beef broth, a chicken broth, or a strong vegetable broth made from roots, onion skins, parsley stems, and bones if you have them.
• •Make one test pocket before shaping all of them. If it leaks, press the edges harder and check for trapped air; if the filling tastes flat, fix the raw mix now, not after eighteen pockets are sealed.
• •For a lighter plate, serve them in clear broth with chives and a sharp green salad. The dish stays Swabian, and nobody has to sleep under the table after lunch.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can rest in the refrigerator up to 24 hours; bring it back toward room temperature before rolling so it doesn't crack.
• •The filling can be mixed one day ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator; cold filling is easier to portion and seal.
• •Poached Maultaschen keep 3 days in the refrigerator. Reheat them gently in broth or slice and fry them in butter with onions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 330g)