Maultaschen

Noodledough

• 500g all purpose flour
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2-3 tablespoons water

Mix the flour and salt. Mix the eggs into the flour/salt mixture as you would to make pasta or in a kitchen machine, adding 2-3 tablespoons of water, as required, to make a smooth dough. Knead well (about 10 minutes) to make an elastic dough. Wrap tightly in cling wrap, and rest in fridge at least 30 minutes.

Filling

• 200g sausage filling (ideally veal)
• 200g ground beef
• 200g ground pork
• 150g cubed bacon
• 1 onion, finely cubed
• 2 tablespoons parsley, finely choped
• 150 g frozen spinach (or wilted fresh spinach)
• 1 small, stale white roll soaked in milk (or use three slices white bread)
• 1 egg
• salt, pepper, nutmeg and lovage

1. Add bacon to hot pan and fry briefly to release fat. Add the onion and fry until translucent. Add parsley and fry briefly. Remove pan from heat and allow mixture to cool completely.

 2. Thaw spinach, squeeze it out, and chop finely. Squeeze milk out of the bread roll. Thoroughly mix meat, onion mixture, bread roll and egg together. Season to taste with salt, pepper, nutmeg and lovage. If possible, pass mixture through the meat grinder using smallest setting, and be sure to mix thoroughly (e.g. using stand mixer with paddle attachment).

Assembly

• 1 egg, beaten
• Beef broth

 1. Roll out noodles with the help of a pasta machine to thickness setting ~5. Be sure to sprinkle plenty of flour between noodle layers to prevent noodles from sticking to one another.

2. Spoon or pipe filling down the center ~1/3 of the length of the noodle, leaving ~2 cm free at both ends. Brush the ends and the further free 1/3 of the noodle with the egg mixture. Fold the bottom 1/3 over the filling and the the top 1/3 (the bit with the egg on it) over the bottom 1/3. With the help of a wooden spoon handle, divide into individual Maultaschen by pressing down perpendicular to the noodle.

3. Gently place Maultashen into gently boiling beef broth, turn off the heat and allow to poach for ~15 minutes.

4. Serve immediately with broth and sprinkled with parsley. Alternatively, freeze and reheat by poaching/simmering in beef broth.

Makes about 50-60 Maultaschen. The referenced recipe makes about twice as much filling as noodle.








 

Pad Thai

Probably not authentic, but easy and delicious nonetheless.

Sauce:

• Juice from 1-2 limes
• 2 Tblsp. soy sauce
• 1-2 Tblsp. fish sauce (I use 1 1/2 Tblsp.)
• 1 Tblsp. dried shrimp, finely chopped
• 2 Tblsp. brown/palm sugar

Rest of the ingredients:

• 1 Tblsp. cooking oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 Thai chili, finely chopped
• 1-2 chicken breasts, sliced thin
• 1/2 package (200 g) 5mm-wide rice noodles
• 1 cup soy bean sprouts
• 2 green onions, chopped into rings
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup peanuts (preferably unsalted), chopped

Put noodles in a bowl and pour boiling water over them to cover. Break apart the noodles a bit with a pasta spoon to keep them from sticking together. Let noodles sit in hot water until they are soft (about 10-15 minutes, which should be about enough time to slice/chop/prepare the other ingredients). Mix the ingredients for the sauce in a small cup or bowl. Heat oil in a wok or deep pot over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, crush garlic into it and add chopped chili. Immediately add chicken breast and fry until cooked through. Drain noodles and add them to chicken, stir briefly, and then add the sauce ingredients. Cook sauce until sugar is dissolved and the sauce begins to stick to the noodles. Add green onions and bean sprouts and stir to mix. Lower heat to medium. Then, push the noodle mixture to the side, and break an egg into the free space. Scramble egg, cook until semi-solid, and cut into strips with a spatula. When the egg is cooked through, stir it into the noodle mixture. Finally, stir in the chopped peanuts.

Makes two large servings.

Variations:

• to add shrimp to the basic recipe, omit one chicken breast. If shrimp is cooked, add to noodle mixture with bean sprouts and green onions. If shrimp is uncooked, I would probably fry it with the chicken (but I've never done this).
• if noodles are too spicy, omit the chili.
• if noodles aren't spicy enough, either add more chilis at the beginning or top finished noodles with ground dried red chilis.
• For more color and/or vegetables, add tomato slices to finished noodles and/or add sliced/shredded carrots or leeks to frying chicken when it is not quite cooked through. Alternatively, top with a few sprouts or sprinkle on some chopped peanuts.

Basic Spaetzle Recipe

came with Silit Spaetzle Profi:

250g (~2 cups) flour
1 tsp. salt
2-3 eggs (depending on you preference)
100-200 ml (~1/3-3/4 cups) water

Mix first three ingredients with enough to water to make a smooth dough that just barely can't hold it's form any more. Then, beat the dough until you start introducing air bubbles (the dough will start to form a stiff mass in the middle of the bowl from the gluten development). Put the dough through a Spaetzle maker (in our case the Silit Spaetlze Profi) and let them drop directly in lightly salted simmering water. Spaetlze are done when the float. Scoop out cooked Spaetlze using a slotted spoon and put into warming dish or directly into bowl. Getting the consistency of the dough correct requires some practice since this is the trickiest part (and probably dependent on the method of making the Spaetzle). For the Spaetzle Profi, the dough should have a consistency such that it doesn't freely flow through the holes of the maker on its own but will just start to droop out of them.

Makes: 2 servings of Spaetzle