Spaetzle and Spinach

I have made this with greens other than spinach, so go ahead and experiment. Be forewarned, this recipe makes a big mess! In fact, the friend who gave it to us has 3 cold beers listed on the ingredients. One beer for drinking before cooking. One with dinner...and one to help you tackle all the dishes! Dan's recommendation is that you make a large batch since the spaetzle does freeze well. And, a small ziploc bag of it is the perfect serving size for picky lunch eaters.

2 c flour
salt and pepper
a few grinds of nutmeg using a cool grater, if you have one.
2T dried herbs..any mix (parsley and thyme are good..usually I'm heavier on the parsley than anything else)
2/3 c milk
5 large eggs
olive oil
bunch of spinach or other greens cleaned thoroughly


Whisk together flour, 1 t salt and nutmeg. In another bowl, beat eggs and milk and 1/4 c olive oil and add dried herbs to this to soak and soften them. Whisk into the flour mixture until smooth.

In a large pot bring 6 quarts or so of water to a boil. Using a spaetzle maker, pour batter into it so it drips into the boiling water. I used a colander the first few times I made this until I was given a spaetzle maker. If anyone wants to borrow the spaetzle maker, let me know and we'll see if we can arrange a trial. When spaetzle floats to the top, remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon and saute for a minute or two with the greens (see below)

Heat 1 T. olive oil in a pan and saute the greens.
Saute the drained noodles briefly and serve together with the spinach.

Good for the carb loader in my family. And good when greens and eggs come in a CSA box!