WANT TO SAVE THIS RECIPE?
Enter your email below and we’ll send it straight to your inbox. Plus you’ll get great new recipes from us every week!
Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks‘ July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!
My sister, Janet, is an excellent cook and she married in to a family of excellent cooks – they even have a family cookbook. The Niemann family is of German descent and one of their favorite meals is Spätzle with Rouladen. Janet’s mother-in-law even ordered Spätzle presses from Germany for her daughters and daughters-in-law.
When I told my sister Spätzle was the Daring Cook’s challenge for the month, she invited me to come and cook it with her in her beautiful kitchen. She lives in a small country town and it was a pleasure driving through our gorgeous mountains and spending time cooking with her.
Spätzle is an egg noodle, but it’s moister and softer than traditional pasta. You don’t need a press to make Spätzle, just cut thin strips of dough with a knife and scrape the strips into boiling salt water. Rouladen is thin sliced beef rolled up and filled with chopped onion and bacon. Many Rouladen recipes wrap a pickle inside with the onion and bacon, but Janet’s mother-in-law’s recipe doesn’t include a pickle.
Janet’s tips: Spätzle is best if cooked right before you’re ready to eat it. You can make the dough ahead of time, up to 3 hours, and keep the bowl covered with a damp towel. If you have to cook it ahead of time, toss it with a little olive oil so the noodles don’t clump together. Spätzle also freezes well.
WANT TO SAVE THIS RECIPE?
Enter your email below and we will send it straight to your inbox. Plus you will get great new recipes from us every week!
Spätzle and Rouladen
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all purpose or bread flour
- 1 ½ cups semolina flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 - 1 ½ cups water
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Rouladen
- 6 thin slices of lean beef I used a top round roast and had the butcher slice it in ¼ slices
- 6 tablespoons chopped onion
- 6 tablespoons chopped bacon I used Costco Hormel frozen fully cooked bacon
- 3 cups water
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- Spätzle
- Mix together all ingredients until smooth. Dough will form bubbles. Place dough in Spätzle press and press into boiling water. Simmer until noodles rise to the top of the water, then continue cooking 1 minute longer. (If necessary, scrap the bottom of the pan.)
- Remove with a slotted spoon and drain well. Place cooked noodles in a large bowl and repeat cooking process until all dough is cooked. Serve noodles with meat and gravy.
- Rouladen
- Pound beef to tenderize if necessary. (The top round was perfect without tenderizing.) Sprinkle each piece of meat with salt and pepper. Place 1 tablespoon chopped onion and 1 tablespoon chopped bacon on each piece of meat.
- Roll up and secure with a toothpick. Brown rolls in a heavy pot with a little oil or bacon grease.
- After the meat is browned, add water. Cook on low heat until meat is tender (2-3 hours). Thicken gravy with flour or cornstarch. Add additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve with Spätzle.
Notes
Visit the Daring Kitchen to see the all the creative pastas the Daring Cooks cooked up this month. Thanks Steph for a terrific challenge.
rebecca
oh wow love this my favorite German dish must have been so much fun cooking together :-0
Lyndsey ~The Tiny Skillet~
This looks so good. We have a German store by us and they have every kind of sausage and the best meat market. I did pick up some spatzle there because I saw someone buy it and I never had it before. Now I want to make it myself! It looks like you used a potato ricer, is it similar to that?
Barbara
Thanks! It is very similar to a potato ricer, only the holes seemed to be a bit bigger.
Desserts In My Kitchen
Hi Barbara,
Wow, that looks amazing! I am glad you got to spend time with your sister, how fun! I will try this spatzle one day. I love making home made noodles 🙂
kim sisto robinson
Barbara,
Unfortunately, I LOVE NOODLES.
and these look so FAntastic!
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS. how fun cooking with your Sis
gloria
Sounds delicious Barbara, gloria
Rocky Mountain Woman
My sweet German grandmother would be so proud! The spatzle looks wonderful…
I’ve eaten it and enjoyed it many times, but have never tried to make it.
Guess it’s time to give it a whirl!
Faith
I’ve been wanting to try my hand at homemade noodles! Looks like your Spätzle came out perfect!
Lori @ RecipeGirl
That’s one brave dish to attempt!! Looks like it turned out great though.
Kitchen Belleicious
How cool is that! I love that you made your own pasta and even better it didn’t require a pasta maker or all the gadgets usually involved. It looks absolutely divine and something I would love to try! great job
BethieofVA
One of my favorite meals, ever! Is that her food processor or mixer she is making her dough in?
Barbara
Thanks! It’s her Bosch Mixer, It’s suppose to be more powerful and versatile than the Kitchenaid and she loves it.
Lora
It looks perfect! Käse Spätzle is my favorite dish here in Germany.
Barbara
Thanks! That’s a great compliment coming from someone who lives in Germany. I’m sure it’s fabulous with cheese.
Arlene
A favorite meal when I’m dining in a German restaurant. I’ve made spaetzl, but never had a good recipe for rouladen. I’ll be trying this soon. I’m happy to find your blog and will be following it.
Bonnie
O Barbara,
My “German” husband (well, it is his second country) would love this. What a fun way to spend an afternoon with your sister.
Maris (In Good Taste)
This looks so wholesome and like a big bowl of comfort food!
Betty @ scrambled henfruit
I just recently had spatzle for the first time, and I wondered why I’d waited so long! This looks like a wonderful recipe for it. Now that I know how good it is, there’s no reason not to make it! 🙂
Renata
I wonder how much you both enjoyed cooking together, your dish looks amazing, and delicious! I really want to try the spatzle sometime soon.
Kathleen
Barbara, this looks way yummy! I’ve made spatzle before with a friend. He pressed the dough through a colander to form the noodles. They were delish!
Becki @Becki's Whole LIfe
This looks like a great meal! I think I have had rouladen with a pickle in the middle. The bacon sounds wonderful though!
anncoo
This looks very delicious and I would love to have the Rouladen right now but it’s already past midnight here….can only have it in my dream :))
Have a wonderful weekend ahead.
Rosa
In Switzerland we have a speciality called “Spätzli” and which is very similar to “Spätzle”… That is one scrumptious meal!
Cheers,
Rosa