We have been serving vegan and vegetarian meals on the North Fork since 2001 sometimes we have to produce a meal in a pinch with the basics provisions on hand. Flour, milk, eggs or egg substitute, oil, water and salt and voila-you have homemade spaetzle dumplings for dinner. Spaetzle, somewhere between a noodle and a dumpling are very common in German, Austrian, and Swiss cuisine and also in the German towns of my Midwestern youth.
You can mix them, boil them and serve them for dinner in about a half hour. Add a starter of local greens and the last of the garden herbs with fresh lemon, apple cider vinager and If you have time, a dessert of mixed berries. If you have more time than I do tonight; a mixed berry tart with vegan puff pastry.
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups of water
dash salt
dash oil
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon North Fork Sea Salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg (ground or fresh grated)
dash white pepper
4 teaspoons of egg substitute powder (mixture of baking powder, potato starch and flax seed)
Directions
1. Set a large pot of water to boil on the stove with a dash of salt and a bit of oil. Mix the dry ingredients together then add the liquid. The dough should form a consistency of very thick gooey pancake batter.
2. When the water comes to a boil, force the dough through a spaetzle board using a rubber spatula. My spaetzle board was compliments of my talented, artist-Swiss friend, Garance.
3. To cut by hand, prop a cutting board over the boiling water and plop an amount of dough on the board. Using a chef’s knife or metal spatula, cut/scrape bits of the dough into the boiling water. The doughy droplets should be about the size of a marble- if a marble was a misshapen gooey mass of yumminess. As you cut the dough, be sure to dip your spatula in the water regularly to prevent the dough from sticking to it.
4. When the happy little lumps of batter float, they are done cooking. Be sure not to crowd the pot or over cook. It is better to make two three batches than have some that are over done which will yield a slimy texture. Drain the spaetzle and they are ready to eat.
They are even better if sauteed after they have cooled and firmed in a bit of oil with some shallots, East End mushrooms or pepper and served with an Alsatian-style Gewurtztraminer from Bedell Cellars.
Adapted from turkishrondo at vegweb.com.
