How to Make Spaetzle Using Colander

Spaetzle can be used in many dishes.

"Spaetzle" is the German equivalent to pasta. It is a seasoned doughy food that is often coated in sauce to make a filling meal. Unlike pasta, spaetzle tends to be more rustic in shape, with the dough often being cut or torn into small pieces for cooking. Spaetzle dough is also sometimes made to be more paste-like in consistency so that it can be extruded through a slotted implement such as a spoon or colander. This produces small, rough, string-like spaetzle. Does this Spark an idea?

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1 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg
Whisk
Large-holed colander

Instructions

Spaetzle Dough
- 1
  
  Place the cup of flour in a bowl and season it with the salt, pepper and nutmeg. Create a well shape in the middle of the now-seasoned flour -- ready for the wet ingredients.
- 2
  
  Mix the 1/4 cup of milk with the two large eggs, gently whisking them together.
- 3
  
  Pour the wet mixture of milk and eggs into the well you have made in the dry ingredients. Use the whisk to draw the dry ingredients into the wet gradually, incorporating them into a thick paste. Mix the dough until it is smooth and let it rest uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes.
Cooking Spaetzle
- 4
  
  Boil 3 quarts of salted water in a large pot on the stove. Once it reaches boiling point, decrease the heat so that it is just simmering.
- 5
  
  Spoon the spaetzle dough into a large-holed colander that you should hold directly over the simmering water. Use the back of the spoon to push the dough through the holes of the colander. The dough will drop through in thick, short strings directly into the simmering salted water. Do this in small batches so the spaetzle does not stick together. Stir the spaetzle as it cooks with a clean spoon to help it remain separate.
- 6
  
  Remove the cooked spaetzle from the water with a slotted spoon and place in a clean, small-holed colander to drain. The spaetzle will puff up and float to the surface once they are cooked.