Spaetzle

7 eggs
2 Cups of AP Flour
1/4 Cup milk (I use 2%)

I combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix until well incorporated, then I rest it in the fridge for about an hour - when it comes out of the fridge it should be kind of like elastic-y pancake batter.

To turn the batter into spaetzle, you need some equipment and a large pot of (gently) boiling water or broth. Tradition dictates a spaetzle board - you plop some batter onto the board (it looks like a handled cutting board with a 45 degree slope at the bottom which gets submerged in the boiling water) and use a blade to form individual spaetzle and roll them into the water. As someone who LOVES fussy cooking techniques I really wanted to try this, but the boards are not easy to come by and a friend convinced me that, tradition be damned, it would be far too messy and difficult to put up with. I have also heard tell of pastry bags and using a cheese grater, but a friend of mine has an actual honest to goodness spaetzle press he was generous enough to loan me (naturally he was also invited for dinner!) It worked like a charm!

Now, a word about the spaetzle press: in order to bring a "unitasker" into my already cramped teensy kitchen, it has to be mighty special. Like, my pizzelle press - I can't make pizzelles without it and life without pizzelles is simply not worth living. For realsies! But is it really a unitasker? Kind of yes, but I don't use pizzelles only as cookies - while still hot you can roll them into (non-traditional) cannoli shells, you can turn them into waffle cones and you can even press one inside a small dish to make a waflfle cup for ice cream! So yeah, it IS a unitasker, it only makes pizzelles, but pizzelles can make many things!

But a spaetzle press? What else can I make with a spaetzle press? Well ... my friend's spaetzle press bore a remarkable resemblance to ... a potato ricer! A few years ago my ex purchased one of these (yes, another unitasker!) to make gniocchi and it has taken up precious drawer space ever since. Well, next time I make spaetzle, I am going to try the potato ricer and see how it works! But if it doesn't, a spaetzle press in a unitasker I am more than happy to have - spaetzle, like pizzelles, makes life worth living!

Whatever method you use, the batter has to be released into gently boiling water or broth to cook - when they float, they are done - usually just a few minutes. But before you cook them, you need a plan to cool them! You need to fish them out of the boiling water and stop the cooking immediately. I used an ice bath - simply a huge bowl of water in my sink with ice floating in it. I would occassionally dump the no longer cool water and replace with cooler water and new ice, but it's about as simple as you can get!

So there you have it - spaetzle! So easy and so tasty!