My Oma's Spaetzle and Goulash

This is the real-deal, authentic German Spaetzle and Goulash recipe: DELICIOUS!

Of course you'll need to pick up one of these bad boys to make it: Don't waste your money on a plastic one, it will break. There are other methods, but this is the best and easiest way. Hey! It’s how my grandmother always did it.

Spaetzle

Ingredients

         *4 cups all-purpose flour
         *3 eggs
         *1 teaspoon salt
         *3/4 cup water or milk

Directions

1. In large bowl, combine flour, eggs and salt. Add water/milk a little at a time to form a soft dough.
2. Boil 2 quarts of water in a large pot.
3. Put dough in holder of spaetzle press, then squeeze press handles, pushing noodles out and into the water.
4. When noodles float to the top of the water, they are done (3 to 4 minutes).
5. Remove from water with slotted spoon and place on platter lined with paper towels. Serve as a side or main dish.

You do want your dough to be relatively stiff, so that your noodles hold their shape well. If your dough is too watery, the noodles will become more of a congealed mass than anything else. I will admit, it will be tough to push the dough through the press. Matt likes the noodles to be very noodly {is that a word?}, so the deal is I make the dough and he presses it.

Crumble-ies

These are what make the spaetzle in my opinion. We always have crumble-ies on our spaetzle {sometimes on our broccoli too!} Take a decent amount of butter {a couple of tablespoons} and some bread crumbs, melt them together in a pot until they’re browned and pour them over the top.

Goulash

Ingredients

          * Stew beef (approximately 2-3 lbs, depending on how many people you're feeding)
          * 1 can tomato paste-optional (small size)
          * Flour (approx 1/4 cup)
          * Salt and Pepper (to taste)
          * 3 cloves garlic, minced (more if you like garlic)

Directions

1. In large bowl, combine flour, salt and pepper Dredge all pieces of stew beef until well-coated with flour mixture.
2. In a large pan heat olive oil, and brown garlic.
3. Cooking as many as will fit at a time, brown all the pieces of stew beef.
4. Place all browned beef in large pot, fill with just enough water to cover meet, put on lid, and allow to slow cook for several hours, being sure to stir and scrape bottom frequently (crock pot works great for this).
5. Add in your tomato paste (this is optional). Mix well. Allow to continue to cook.
6. About an our before it’s ready to be served I throw in my carrots. If there isn’t enough “sauce” to actually cook the carrots in I will cook them in a separate pot and then toss them in at the end.
7. When the meat is sufficiently tender (I let mine cook all day), you should be able to break the chunks into smaller bites with a fork. It's ready to serve!
   

   

This is one of those things that tastes even better the next day....so feel free to make it ahead of time, just add extra water when you're re-heating it. The finished product should have the consistency of a thick gravy. Enjoy!