German

So I've been telling assorted people about my bakery/specialty foods idea, and I've been getting some advice. My dad had a very interesting notion; I have thought about setting up shop in Tomball, a smallish town just northwest of Houston (actually, Houston will grow into it before too long). Now, as a bit of background, Tomball has a large German-American population, and they throw a huge Oktoberfest festival every year, as well as a separate German Heritage festival. My dad pointed out to me that despite the strong German influence, there are no German restaurants in Tomball, and nor are there any shops where one may buy German food, save for the International aisle at Walmart, which is mostly Chinese and Mexican food anyway.

I originally pooh-poohed the idea of serving up German cuisine as a part of my shop, as I am not a huge sausage fan and I absolutely LOATHE sauerkraut. To my knowledge, that, along with some sort of bland potato, was the quintessential German meal. So today, during Ari's nap, I got bored and Wikipedia-ed German food. I was surprised to see that there is a lot of variety in the cuisine, including a huge number of cakes and pastries - something right up my alley. Then I saw something about a noodle called spatzle. Now, spatzle is a pasta made with egg, milk and flour. You mix everything up and form the noodles directly over the pot so they just drop right in. The coolest part is that imperfections are EXPECTED. One of my huge issues with cooking that I need to correct is that while everything tastes fabulous, it almost never looks fabulous. It usually appears to be a heap of something on a plate, and my loaves of bread are always taller or fatter on one side. So seeing that appearances don't matter so much with spatzle made me really want to try it. I couldn't totally do what I wanted because I have a limited amount of ingredients that just so happened to be at my house, so it's not the most traditional recipe.

Sarah's Desperation Spatzle
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1 1/6 cups all-purpose flour
* 3 creminis
* 1/2 bunch green onions
* 2 - 2 1/2 Tbsp butter
* 1 tsp chicken bouillon
Combine eggs and milk; add flour, a little at a time, combine thoroughly, and let rest for a few minutes. Boil a huge pot of water, and slice the mushrooms and onions thinly. Melt butter in a skillet and toss in the veggies. When water comes to a rolling boil, add bouillon and dissolve. Next, get out a colander (not a wire mesh one, but a plastic one with holes all in it). Pour the batter in it, holding it over the pot of water. If the batter is thick, press on it with a bowl to get it on through quickly. Almost immediately, the spatzle will rise to the top; when this happens you know they're done, kind of like ravioli. Scoop them out with a spider or slotted spoon and put in serving dish. Pour veggies (and butter) over the top. Salt and pepper.

In the future, I would like to use cheese, but I didn't have any in my fridge. For something whipped up so quickly, though, I thought it was pretty good. This would be a great recipe for when you don't have much in your kitchen; just make the spatzle and saute up any veggies that have been hanging out in your produce bin for too long. If I'd had some, I would have grated some Emmantalier or something over the top.

Just out of curiosity, is anyone out there but me appalled and hurt by the fact that there is a hard and fast rule against garlic in German food? I know I am.