Nando’s chicken and Mary’s Spaetzle

Ever since my German friends made Spaetzle for me years ago I have been a fan. This particular recipe is one I created based on a recipe I found in a German cookbook combined with what I remembered from their recipe. It makes enough for four, so my friends will be enjoying it tonight as I can’t eat all of it myself. As to the Nando’s reference, I learned about Nando’s when I went there for lunch with a client in Scotland. Nando’s comes from South African/Portugal cuisine…but is produced/headquartered in the Netherlands and is hugely popular in the UK. Quite the international journey for peri-peri sauce. Anyway, while they raved on and on about Nando’s, what I remember most was my cultural faux pas (should have read this article before I moved!). French fries were the side and I (in typical American fashion and you’ll see where this is going) was picking up each fry by hand and eating it. They were delicately using knife and fork with their fries. It took me awhile to realize this…and realize I must look like a caveman/Neanderthal/boor! At least I got a good story to tell out of the experience. For the chicken, all I did was marinate the chicken in Nando’s – today I’m trying out hot (found at Lidl!) and sautéd/pan cooked it.

Mary’s Spaetzle

Ingredients

400 g. all purpose flour
4 eggs
1+ cup of sparkling water
1 T. salt
Butter
Cheese

Misc.

Large Pot of boiling salted water
Spaetzle maker
Bowl of cold water
Casserole dish (warming in the oven)

Mix ingredients in bowl with hand mixer, adding more water as needed. You are aiming for a slightly thicker than pancake batter consistency. Fill a large pot with salted water and bring to a bowl. Now…in the ideal world you have invested in a Spaetzle maker (see picture). If not, don’t panic! You can use a colander or even a cheese grater (something with big holes) as a substitute. Once the water is boiling, you scoop batter into the maker and slowly move it back and forth. As the spaetzle cooks it will rise to the top. You should let it cook about 2 minutes. Scoop it out and quickly dip in cold water to cool the cooking process(alternatively you can have a colander in your sink with running cold water). Place in casserole dish in a warm oven as you work through the batter. Serve with butter and cheese (I use either parmesan or buetterkase). I usually serve this with Hungarian gulasch (because I’m typically craving some German/European cuisine)