Hey Gardenlad -- You inspired me, and so I am taking up a new years resolution to make at least one new recipe from my "to make" binders every week. A bunch of folks over on the cooking forum are joining in, and we are going to have a weekly post to recount the results! Be sure to join us!

Emily

Sorry, Emily, I don't post over there. When I tried, about six months back, I have never been made to feel so unwelcome anywhere on the web.

But I'll gladly play if you want to do it over here. This is, after all, the recipe exchange site.

As to the concept, one recipe a week wouldn't work for me, cuz my great grandkids would be inheriting untried recipes. :>)

My personal goal is at least two complete new meals each week. That way I can at least make a dent in them.

On the planning menu for this week:

New Year's Eve:

Fennel & Orange Salad
Breast of Game hen on Celeraic Rosti with Blackberry Sauce
Black eyed Peas---Turnip Greens (not untried, but it's New Year's, after all, and this is a must-have.

Some other time during the week:

Crabcakes w/Mustard Sauce The Castine Inn
Black Pepper Spaetzle w/Onion Paprika Sauce
Pineapple Fritters

We got a great deal on calamari this week, so I'll find a new way to prepare it, too. Once I've focused on the recipe I'll decide on the go-withs.

And I've recently gotten back into making bread, so that opens a whole lot of doors.

Hey gardenlad -- so sorry to hear you had a bad experience over at the cooking board! I will be sure to double-post my weekly efforts over here, and have been enjoying all the newly tried recipes you've been posting.

Your new years eve menu sounds delicious -- wish I was there to eat some!

Very curious about the spaetzle -- have never made spaetzle before but think I will try sometime soon...

Emily

Gardenlad, I'm sorry you feel that way about the Cooking Forum. I find the cooking forum folk to be very welcoming to new members.

Emily, Spaetzle are a wonderful side to many dishes. I made them earlier this week to serve with

Here is a tried and true recipe. Helps if you have a spaetzle maker/cutter but if not you can just pour the batter on to a plate and use the edge of a knife to cut and slide pieces into the boiling water.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Spaetzle with Brown butter
==========================
Original Souce: http://teriskitchen.com/

INGREDIENTS
2-1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk

Brown Butter
5 tablespoons butter
Additional salt and pepper to taste

Optional: Add chopped parsley to the dough.
.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt and nutmeg. If using
Parsley add to dry ingredients. Add the eggs and milk; stir until
thoroughly combined. Let dough rest about 15 minutes before cooking.
Heat a large pot of lightly salted water until boiling. Add the
spaetzle and cook until done, about 4 minutes. The dumplings will float
when done. Drain well. Brown the butter in a small saucepan or skillet.
Place the spaetzle in a serving dish and pour the butter on top. Season
with salt and pepper; toss well to combine. Serve immediately.

I've made it in the past using a collander to force the batter into the water. It's a real pain, because the holes are so small. So I finally ordered a spaetzle maker, which came this week, and I'll use that for the first time.

Another way of doing it, albiet on the slow side, is to put the batter in a pastry bag with a small tip. Squeeze out about a half-inch of it, over the water, and cut it off so the blob of batter drops into the water.

Here's a basic spaetzle recipe:

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
2 eggs

Beat eggs lightly. Add milk & water. Combine flour & salt in bowl. Gradually add egg mixture to create a soft dough.

Use a collander and small spatula, or a spaetzle maker, to "grate" the dough direction into a pot of boiling water. Cook until the spaetzle floats. If you're not going to use it immediately, transfer to a bowl of cold water until you need it.

>Your new years eve menu sounds delicious -- wish I was there to eat some! Plenty to go around, Em. I'll set another plate.

Thank you, gardenlad. I'd love to try the celery consomme. I've made chicken and mushroom consommes and now that I've got the hang of the "rafts", I'm determined to try making beef consomme this year.

If you like celery, here's another soup for a cold winter night.

CREAMED CELERY SOUP Â 3 to 4 servings

1 bunch of celery, cleaned, some leaves reserved for garnish
1 Tbs. butter or margarine
½ cup chopped onion
1 Tbs. fresh parsley sprigs
1 to 1½ cups chicken broth
½ cup cooked rice
½ tsp. salt or to taste
¼ tsp. ground white pepper
3 cups milk
¼ cup crumbled blue cheese
Paprika for garnish

[Notes: 1) Add rice to mixture to be pureed if you want a very smooth soup; add rice after pureeing if you want a little more texture to it. 2) Herbs such as tarragon or marjoram can be added with the chicken broth. 3) Grated cheddar cheese can be substituted for the blue cheese or it can be omitted altogether. 4) You can freeze this recipe by following it but not adding the milk or cheese until after you defrost and reheat it.]

If outer stalks of celery have tough strings, pull them out when cleaning. Chop the celery and some of the leaves. In a 3 qt. pot, melt the butter and saute the celery and onion over medium low heat until onion is clear, about 20 minutes. Add 1 cup of chicken stock or more if needed to cover vegetables; add pars ley. Simmer for 20-30 minutes or until celery is soft.

Puree in batches in blender or blend with stick blender until smooth. Add rice, salt, pepper and milk. Reduce heat to low and heat thoroughly, about 15 minutes. To serve, put about 1 Tbs. of the crumbled cheese in the bottom of each heated soup bow; fill with soup and garnish with paprika and celery leaves.

I'm really curious about your Black Pepper Spaetzle w/Onion Paprika Sauce recipe, so I'll be checking back this week to see if you tried it and what you thought. My MIL makes a traditional spaetzle and we love it. She doesn't use pepper in anything, due to an allergic reaction to it, but we like it.

Happy New Year to you.

Lee

Here ya go, Lee:

Black Pepper Spaetzle w/Onion & Paprika Sauce

for sauce:
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1 tbls unsalted butter
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp all purpose flour
1/3 cup chicken stock
1/2 tsp white wine vinegar

1 large egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp minced parsley

Make the sauce: In a small pan cook the onion in the butter with the paprika over moderately low heat, stirring, until it is softened. Stir in the flour and cook the roux, stirring, 2-3 minutes. Add the broth and vinegar and simmer the sauce, stirring, for 2 minutes. Cover and keep warm.

In a bowl whisk together the egg, milk, 1 tbls water, salt and pepper. Add the flours and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until it is just smooth.

"Grate" the dough into boiling salted water. Cook until spaetzle floats.

Add spaetzle to the sauce and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until it its heated through, and stir in the parsley.

This will make two healthy servings, but, of course, can be doubled or even tripled.

Usually, when I make spaetzle, I make it earlier and hold it in a bowl of cold water. Then I make whatever sauce at the last minute (quite often this is just a sage butter), drain the spaetzle and add it to the sauce, stirring until it's heated through.

Thanks for these recipes, Gardenlad.
Did you happen to save the "Battle Chicken" thread on the cooking forum? I wanted to, but didn't do it in time.
You are missed over there.

Thank you, I've saved and printed this and hope to try it this week, maybe with an encore of the roast pork I'm making tonight (DMIL who eats NO pepper is joining us tonight or I would make this today).

Lee

Lee, I don't think there would be all that much lost by leaving the pepper out. The real flavor boost comes from the sauce; which is really good.

>Did you happen to save the "Battle Chicken" thread on the cooking forum?Didn't have much reason to, Christine. Most of the responses had little to do with posting chicken recipes.

Oh, I just remember there were lots of chicken recipes that sounded good.

GL, I'm sure the spaetzle and sauce would still be good without the pepper, but DH and I like pepper a lot, so I'm holding off until I can use the pepper. We have plenty left in the rack of pork that I roasted tonight. I think the spaetzle and sauce will be just the thing to jazz up the pork later this week. I'll post back.

Lee

Either way, Lee. And I'm sure you're right; it will go great with roast pork. Enjoy!

Gardenlad, your Black Pepper Spaetzle w/Onion & Paprika Sauce is a keeper at our house. I tweaked it just a little by using a full teaspoon of paprika and a teaspoon of white balsamic vinegar (the only white vinegar I had). I grew up with paprikas and Szekely goulyas made with a pretty heavy amount of paprika. I thought the amount of black pepper was just perfect in this, a bit of kick, but not overpowering. I also had to add about two T more flour because I don't have a spaetzle plane thingy and I needed the dough to be heavy enough to spread on a board and cut off with a knife into the pot of water. But those are minor changes, we both loved the recipe and it was perfect with our roast pork. A tossed salad, steamed green beans and quince slices cooked with wine were the other sides. All in all it was a lovely dinner and I thank you for sharing the recipe.

Lee

Glad it worked out for you, Lee.

Friend Wife is of Hungarian extraction, and I learned to use paprika the way you do from her. I thought it was on the light side in this recipe, but wanted to follow it the way it was written the first time. Next time I'll up the paprika a little, as you did.

In American cooking, paprika is used more as a coloring agent than for taste. So most people don't realize what great flavor various paprikas can add to a dish.

If you're planning to make spaetzle often I really would advise getting a maker. They're not all that expensive---the Villaware, all-stainless version is only about 12 bucks. But it really makes the job quicker and easier. Now that I have one I know we'll be having spaetzle much more often.

When you hold the spaetzle in cold water doesn;t it get water logged and icky?

I have always made it and put it in a serving dish covered with a tea towel (like rice) to hold it and it does just fine for a short period of time. If I could hold it longer, that would be a bonus!

Alexa

It never has for me, Alexa. The cold water stops the cooking process, is all.

Now then, I've never held it this way for more than a couple of hours, so don't know what would happen if you tried doing it for a long period, like, say, overnight---or even from noon until suppertime. Might be worth trying to see what happens.

Most of the time it's not even held for hours. What I like to do is make it first. This frees up the stove for whatever else I'm cooking (including any sauce for the spaetzle). Then, the last step is to reheat the spaetzle in the sauce and serve.

Alexa, I've never held it in water either. I've made it earlier in the day and then just drained and rinsed it and stored it in a covered container in the fridge. Ziploc bags work well too. Never had a problem with it sticking together. It warms up well to. Especially if you just toss it with a little melted butter or with a meat sauce.

Ann

Oh, can't wait to make that Black Pepper Spaetzle, thanks!

Cindy