spaetzle

[Mike@Norwood]

So this is a dish I grew up making in the kitchen with my grandmother.  If you don't like cheese then I suggest  you stop reading.

First I made some homemade spaetzle noodles with my spaetzle contraption, as you can kind of see in the bowl in the background. Then I diced the swiss cheese, caramelized the onions, and layered the ingredients in a buttered casserole dish. (Note: It saddens me to admit that I was forced to make two dishes as all the cheese wouldn't fit into one dish.  ;D)


 
Sometimes I'll mix it up and use different cheeses or add some ham or bacon, but not when my grandmother is around. She gives me flack for tinkering with the recipe.


 
Yes, it's as cheesy as it looks and something the doctor would recommend eating on a daily basis, but what a treat.....at least to me.

[RynSmith]

Your doctor sounds a lot cooler than mine...   ;)

That looks yummy!  Other than a fancy contraption, what is the secret to homemade spaetzle noodles?

[Mike@Norwood]

4 cups of flour, 3 to 4 eggs, a pinch of salt and pepper, and enough water to bring the dough to a pancake like consistency. 

In a boiling pot of salted water, add the noodles to the spaetzle maker and slide the contraption back and forth. You could probably get away with using a colander in place of a spaetzle maker. Just let the dough/batter drip thru the holes.

Give the noodles a quick stir to make sure all the dough is submerged. They'll start to rise to the top as they cook. They only take a few minutes to cook. You have to make the noodles in batches and drain each batch.

[Raider Bill]

Lemme get the name of that Doctor!

[Kansas]

I have a doctor that prescribed beer. No hard liquor, he said. I took him at his word.

[Texas Ranger]

Took me back to Germany, but not being a cook, I'll wait for the next German restaurant.

[WDH]

Never had it.  But, cheese, caramelized onions and noodles  ???.  Awesome  8)

[D L Bahler]

Also look for Chnöpfli, a Swiss version of the same thing but using more compact noodles. Chnöpfli uses small button like noodles (Chnöpfli means little buttons) instead of long stringy ones.

You don't need any special tools to make the Chnöpfli.

There's also Spätzli, which you might guess is the same as Spätzle.

The whole thing is kind of like a Swiss version of Macaroni and cheese. If you can try with a cheese like Gruyere, I think you'd love it.

Just to be clear though, Spätzli and Chnöpfli refer to the noodles, this cheese dish would be Käsespätzli (or Chäschnöpfli)