Green Beans with Spaetzle

This may not be the kind of dish served during Octoberfest, except by someone like me who’s crazy about fresh green beans. I do know spaetzle is an eggy pasta from Germany and Austria. It’s very likely my German great-grandmother made it, so I’m offering my version of this side dish in honor of everyone’s favorite beer-drinking and polka dancing month.

(Green Beans and Spaetzle was one of my favorite Birds Eye sides. In fact, I discovered spaetzle in that product after I got married. It seemed quite daring to try something I never heard of before. I haven’t seen it in stores for a while now, but that’s OK. It’s better to make your own.)

The amount you prepare is totally up to you. This is an eyeball recipe. Base proportions of ingredients based on what you like the most. Here’s what you need: Butter, fresh or frozen green beans, cooked spaetzle, diced onion, and real bacon bits, or some crumbled, cooked bacon. Melt the butter in a skillet or sauté pan. I used my ceramic coated non-stick. You can use an oil of your choice instead of butter, if you prefer. When your butter is melted add the green beans and onions. After they are coated with butter, place a lid on the pan and let the veggies steam for a few minutes. Remove the lid, add the spaetzle , bacon bits and some fresh ground pepper. (Bacon makes up for adding salt, but feel free to add it if you desire.) I like my beans and spaetzle to have a little golden brown color. You can make yours however you like. In fact, since the spaetzle is already cooked this dish might have the potential to become a cold salad.

In case you’re wondering, spaetzle can be found as a dried pasta in stores. Take a stab at making it yourself at least once. Homemade is far tastier and has chewy texture than dried noodles. Spaetzle is actually one of the easier pastas to make in terms of skills required. Unlike Italian style pastas, it’s mixed in a bowl and there is no kneading. However, it does require a sturdy wooden spoon and a bit of muscle. The batter should resemble a smooth paste when you finish stirring. You may find you need to add more water than the recipe calls for. The last batch I made needed more water. I didn’t measure how much extra I added. I just kept stirring in a bit at a time until I got the consistency I wanted. Now, if you think you would rather use mechanical means to mix your batter, I do not recommend a hand-mixer. The motor will not be strong enough and will burn-out, literally. You can try a stand mixer with a heavier motor, but you may not enjoy clearing the batter out of the paddle beater. Since spaetzle is mostly flour with several eggs, it’s sticky and stringy with protein. (But that’s what makes it so delightful to eat after it’s cooked.) If your mixer has one, a dough hook may accomplish the task with less clean-up. I just haven’t tried it with my stand mixer yet.

A link to a spaetzle recipe isn’t included here because the recipe I used wasn’t found on the internet. Like most things these days I’m sure they’re out there. My recipe comes from the book pictured below. I consider it a good investment. It has lots of recipes for making pastas, as well as finished dishes. It also has pastas made of such flours as buckwheat (a seed, not a grain) and chestnuts. If you want a gluten-free option for home-made pasta this book may give you some options. My husband was diagnosed with MS a few months ago. There are a lot of things he may have to eliminate from his diet, including gluten, so I will be taking a closer look at those recipes.

The Project Queen