Sprechen Sie Deutsch

This blog is dedicated to German Food!!!!! I was first introduced by my friends Jenny and Nick. They went to Germany during their Europe trip and fell in love with the country. They came up to the city for the night and shared that with us :) We went to Suppenkuche in Hayes Valley. It was my first German experience so we went ALL out... das boooooot! The last picture is cheese spaetzle which was my favorite part of all the German food... sauteed onions and creamy cheese over a dumpling like pasta... mmm!!!!! Now my mission is to try a bunch of well known German food spots including making my own German food. 

The next German spot we tried was in Connecticut. We were out there for a wedding and stayed with our good friends Bill and Natasha. Natasha is German and decided to take us to their favorite German Spot called East Side. The place had a great atmosphere... servers dressed in lederhosens and customers drinking and chanting to "Ziggy Zaggy Ziggy Zaggy oi oi oi".... They had a bunch of pint glasses on the ceiling which also made for a fun environment. For food, we got a giant pretzel, a meter board of schnitzel, and spaetzle. A meter board of schnitzel you ask? It is literally a piece of wood the size of a meter with schnitzel on it... different types of schnitzel. Schnitzel with a mushroom cream sauce, with a fried egg on top, with ligonberry preserves on top, and with a sour cream gravy on top! one word= A-MAZING!

The next and last (so far) German spot we have tried is Leopold's in SF. It is about a 10 min walk from our apt and we were too lazy one night to cook.. so voila out to eat we go! I just can't seem to get enough of the German Beer mmm! For dinner we got the trout and cheese spaetzle. This cheese spaetzle was made with a different cheese and was more au gratin style. It was really good and I will return because Leopold's is delicious but Suppenkuche's cheese spaetzle has been my favorite so far. I guess I am a sucker for creamy mac n cheese and their's was the closest to that but made with spaeztle. 

Last night, I decided to MAKE spaetzle. Because I had a long work day, we just grilled some chicken with it but it really goes with anything! The spaetzle batter is SO simple and uses ingredients you probably already have in your house. I am really finding that the more simple recipes come out the best!!!! 

Ingredients:

3 eggs, 1 cup milk, 3 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup water. *may have to add more water if the dough is too sticky. 

Beat the eggs, add the milk and water. In a separate add the flour and salt. Slowly add flour/salt mixture into the egg/milk/water mixture. Dough should be somewhat sticky and stiff but elastic. Add more water if needed so it is not overly sticky. Push the dough through a colander (spaetzle maker, I bought one off of Amazon for $9 including shipping). The colander should be resting on top of a pot of boiling water. Boil for 2-3 minutes, up to 5, depending on how much dough you make. Spaetzle will rise to the top. Strain the spaetzle and prepare it any way you like ...2 ideas are 1)Butter and Parm cheese or 2) Sauteed onions with melted cheese for a mac n cheese style spaetzle.

Pictures below shows the batter in the spaetzle maker... you push the white piece back and forth while the batter gets dropped into the boiling water. Second picture is me straining it... third picture is me mixing the spaetzle with the melted butter and parm cheese... mmm yummy in my tummy!!! :) Hope you enjoy German as much as me!! Don't forget to pair it with some great beers!!