German food is lovely – no, honest, it is!!
I was chatting to Porter this week, a very good German friend of mine. She was telling me she was about to go to a very swanky restaurant in her home city. She showed me the menu on line and I have to say it set my mouth a watering! One of the things that caught my eye was several dishes including Spätzle. I’ve not had Spätzle in ages and I love it. For those of you that haven’t come across it have a quick look here;
It’s a kind of pasta which I’ve only ever found in Germany and Switzerland. Unlike Italian pasta it’s much lighter.
So, having had the conversation I decided that as it’s not readily available in Waitrose I’d have a go at making it myself. Porter pointed me towards a YouTube video and whilst it looked a bit of a faff as an accomplished cook, (or so I thought!), I thought I’d give it a go. Spätzle are made by scraping long, thin strips of dough off a wooden (usually wet) chopping board or Spätzlebrett, into boiling salted water where they cook until they rise to the surface - easy. All I can say is they made it look a LOT easier on the video!! Having lovingly prepared the dough I boiled my pan of water and using the edge of a meat cleaver on a small chopping board I tried to copy the actions in the video and got into all kinds of trouble!
There was dough everywhere, granted some ended up in the pan but they were all shapes and sizes, not the delicate strips the lovely Fräulein made in the video, it was on the cooker, on the work service, down my legs, on my shoes and much to the cat’s delight, on the tiled floor.
Not to be deterred I looked once more at google for ways to prepare Spätzle and I found an interesting article that suggested I could use a potato ricer. This is a gadget I poses so back down to the kitchen to make my second batch. Bingo! The potato ricer made the perfect Spätzle, lovely and fine, consistent and it looked fantastic! Served it with a cheese sauce with some asparagus, broccoli and some lovely Basa fillets, perfect! A little taste of Swabia in my home washed down with a couple of glasses of Riesling – and whilst dinner was a little late, my status of domestic goddess remains intact!
The French and Italians, even the Brits sneer at German cuisine, truth is, there are some fabulous German dishes, Rouladen, Eintopf, Sauerbraten with Kartoffelpuffer and there is no finer apple pudding than a lovely Apple Strudel with lots of cinnamon and hot custard or cream, YUMMY.
So, if you’re reading this and thinking, German food is rubbish – think again and give it a go, you won’t regret it - Guten Appetit!!
One thing German food does potential lead to though if unchecked is a few inches on the waist line, thankfully this doesn’t apply to your virtual self, this is what I’m wearing.
For the Head, Skin, Eyes, Ears and Shape, take a peep at "I'm Back!!, New Year...... New Head!"
Hands - VISTA PRO-HANDS V.1FINAL - Vista Animations
Nails - [FORMANAILS] STILETTO NAILS -VISTA HAND-GOLD-NUDE
Hair - +elua+ Abigail_Lightblonde
Rings - Absolut Vendetta - Hydra Rings - Vista Animations
Face Plugs – .:ellabella:. Kerli V2 lite-chin
Body Suit - Maitreya Naomi Bodysuit Ivory * Lara size
Boots - Pure Poison - Raysa Boots - Maitreya
