I know the first day of spring is just around the corner and Daylight Saving Time launches in the Pacific Northwest next week, but it’s still hanging in the low 40’s most days, so until the sun actually returns, creamy, rich pasta dishes are still keeping me warm.

And for whatever reason, I have a mad crush on strozzapreti (stroh-tzuh-PRAY-tee) lately, and it’s getting star billing in the OtherWorldly Kitchen. I even found this cool post at Y Len Ate that shows one way to shape fresh strozzapreti (twisted). And then another cool post at Eat with a Spoon that shows a very different shaping method (wrapped over a skewer). Both look wonderful.

I must say though that Marcella Hazan–yes, the Queen Mother of Italian cooking–noted on my Facebook page—yes, MY Facebook page–last week that the pasta shown in my photo of Pasta Carbonara Perfecta Mundo did not look like strozzapreti to her. She went on to say that strozzapreti are not tubular and that they should have a twist. All I can say is the imported  package of dried pasta says strozzapreti and also, if you look VERY closely at that photo, you will see the pasta isn’t actually a closed tube. Nevertheless, I’m sure the dried variety pales in comparison to freshly made, so we must all learn to make fresh strozzapreti.

Searching for a way to appease my insatiable craving for pasta, I happened on a recipe yesterday that sounds wonderful and somewhat unusual. It’s from Joyce Goldstein’s cookbook, Back to Square One: Old-World Food in a New-World Kitchen, which I highly recommend. (Actually, I recommend anything that Ms. Goldstein writes. She’s a goddess in the kitchen.) The dish is titled, Penne with Sausage, Broccoli, Ricotta, and Toasted Breadcrumbs.

I intended to follow Ms. Goldstein’s lead, but the muse took over, and the final dish bears little resemblance to the original inspiration–except perhaps in one significant way. The recipe says to either crumble the sausage OR to shape it into little balls. Little balls! Why have I never thought of that? I knew immediately that little sausage balls would be so much better than crumbled sausage. I was salivating just thinking about it.

But when I got to the kitchen and stood before a pound of very sticky Italian pork sausage, shaping a hundred little balls suddenly lost all appeal. And I do mean ALL appeal. Instead, I ended up simply pinching bite-size pieces of sausage into the saute pan, which works nicely and is perhaps a little less time consuming. And although I love Ms. Goldstein’s idea of a tomato and ricotta sauce for the pasta, I had just scored a bundle of the most beautiful broccolini and wanted to make sure the color came through loud and clear. So the game plan switched to a garlic cream sauce.

And in case you are wondering why I am showing you yet another highly caloric, cream-laden pasta dish, all I can say is, hey, what about the broccolini?

Strozzapreti with Spicy Italian Sausage, Broccolini, & Garlic Crema

This pasta dish is so toothsome and delectable, you will be licking the pan to get every last drop of the addictive sauce. The secret is in letting the sausage and sauce flavors meld for awhile. That takes the flavor over the top.

Make Ahead: You can saute the sausage, make the Garlic Crèma, and grate the cheese a day or so in advance if you wish.

Sausage
½ pound spicy Italian sausage (remove casing from sausage links)
olive oil if needed

Garlic Crema
1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ cup minced shallots
2 cloves garlic, peeled and then pressed or minced
½ teaspoon fennel seeds, ground in a mortar and pestle
¼ cup chicken stock
¾ cup cream
¾ cup finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano
fine sea salt to taste

Broccolini
8 ounces broccolini (also called baby broccoli)

Pasta
½ pound dried strozzapreti, penne, or other short tubular pasta
2 tablespoons salt (for pasta boiling water)

Finishing
¼ cup finely grated Parmesan
lots of freshly ground black pepper

1. To cook the sausage, pinch marble-size pieces into a large saute pan. Saute, turning frequently, until all pieces are lightly browned and fully cooked. The sausage should contain enough fat to adequately coat the pan, but if the pan becomes dry, add a drizzle of olive oil. Remove the saute pan from the heat, but keep warm at the back of the stove. (If made in advance, gently rewarm in a large saute pan.)
2. To make the Garlic Crema, in a medium saucepan, heat the oil, and saute the shallots, garlic, and fennel seeds until softened but not browned. Add the chicken stock and reduce to 2 tablespoons. Add the cream and bring to a simmer. Add the cheese and stir to melt. Add the Garlic Crèma to the sausage in the saute pan and stir to combine. Remove from the heat and let the flavors meld.  (If made in advance, add to the sausage and rewarm together.)
3. To cook the pasta, fill a large stockpot with cold water, add the salt, and bring to a full boil. Add pasta and cook for 7-10 minutes, until pasta is just tender. Remove pasta with a strainer and add to the sausage and Garlic Crèma in the saute pan. Set the saute pan over low heat and toss the ingredients together. Keep the pasta water boiling.
4. Add the broccolini to the boiling water and cook for just one minute. Drain and add to the pasta. Toss everything together.
5. Make sure everything is heated through, and then season to taste with salt.
6. Scoop the pasta onto a serving platter or into individual wide-rimmed pasta bowls, and garnish with the remaining parmesan, plus plenty of black pepper.
7. Serve immediately.

Serves 2-3.

Resources

• 101 Cookbooks: Pounded Walnut Strozzapreti
• Audio Pronunciation of Strozzapreti
• Eat with a Spoon: Strozzapreti
• Three Monkey’s Online: Strozzapreti (Priest-Chokers) from Romagna. Between History, Customs and Recipes
• Y Len Ate: Making Pasta with Madame: Strozzapreti with Black Truffles

Copyright 2010 Susan S. Bradley. All rights reserved.

I can still remember my first dreamy mouthful of Spaghetti Carbonara. It was later in life, because my family knew jack squat about pasta. Meat sauce (made with the help of a seasoning packet) heaped over spaghetti was the only pasta dish I ever ate as a kid, and it was a very occasional treat. And later, when I began to cook professionally, I gravitated toward the French country classics. It took me a while to make my way to Cucina Italia.

As I remember, MauiJim and I had just returned from the movie Heartburn, starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. We were both smitten with the scene in which Meryl casually and confidently whips up Spaghetti Carbonara, plunges two forks into it, and then serves it in bed to Jack–after you know what.

When we got home from the movie, I put a pot of water on to boil, grabbed an Italian cookbook from the shelves, and 20 minutes later, we too were sitting cross-legged in bed, eating Spaghetti Carbonara from a shared plate, too much in love and too unfamiliar with the dish to realize I had scrambled the egg yolks. We have reenacted that scene many times since then. It’s the perfect impromptu, romantic, late night indulgence for two.

Over the years, I tried dozens of variations on this simple dish, in an attempt to come up with the perfect formula. Here are some of the altogether contentious considerations around creating a perfect Pasta Carbonara.

In Search of the Perfect Pasta Carbonara

• Spaghetti, linguine, or penne? (Spaghetti is great, but I also love a chewy pasta with this sauce, such as Manicaretti’s Strozzapreti.)
• Whole eggs or egg yolks? (My vote goes to egg yolks.)
• Cream or water? (I used to prefer cream, but after several tests this week, water also makes a wonderful sauce. It’s less rich and the egg flavor is more pronounced. So now, I like the sauce with either cream or water, depending on mood. Regardless, eggs alone, with no liquid, scramble on contact with the hot pasta, so I don’t recommend forgoing the liquid.)
• Butter or olive oil? (Make mine with olive oil.)
• Pancetta or bacon (I say pancetta.)
• Garlic or no garlic? (Garlic seems essential to me.)
• Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano? (I like a half-and-half combination. It has a bit more zip which balances the richness of the sauce.)
• Eggs creamy or scrambled? (Creamy, but scrambled is also delicious—just not Carbonara.)
• Wine? (An interesting idea, as it adds a bit of acidity to offset the richness. A little lemon juice also works wonders.)
• Saucy or dry? (I prefer the dish on the saucy side, but not drenched.)
• Freshly grated black  pepper? (No one seems to disagree on this point. Use LOTS.)
• Ingredients in addition to pasta, eggs, cream if using, cheese, pancetta, and black pepper? (I must have slightly caramelized onions.)

Now for a few fundamentals to help ensure your Pasta Carbonara is perfect every time.

Tips & Tricks for Perfect Pasta Carbonara   

• There are so few ingredients in this dish, it is imperative to use premium quality everything. Buy the best you can afford.
• When egg yolks are heated suddenly, they scramble. You can hamper this effect by tempering the eggs before adding them to the hot pasta. Simply whisk a little hot cream or water into the egg yolks, thus gradually increasing the temperature. Then add the egg yolk-hot liquid mixture to the hot, but not too hot, pasta.
• Don’t sauce the pasta in the saute pan. After combining the pasta with the pancetta and onions, remove to a large mixing bowl. Then pour the combined egg yolk, hot cream or water, and cheese over the top and quickly toss to combine.
• Most recipes for this dish that I have tried do not call for sufficient sauce to coat the pasta. Perhaps this is because different pastas absorb different amounts of liquid. Some pasta suck up the sauce like a sponge while others do not. If you aren’t sure, have extra egg yolks and cheese on hand so you can adjust on the fly if needed.

Pasta Carbonara with Caramelized Onion & Fresh Rosemary

This simple dish is so heart-and-soul satisfying that you may find yourself making it weekly. If you have grated cheese and diced pancetta on hand, you can have this dish on the table in less than 30 minutes. And 10 minutes of that time will be spent waiting for the pasta water to come to a boil.

Serving Note   This dish must be served immediately after it is prepared; it loses its creaminess as it cools. Warm 2-3 wide-rimmed pasta bowls, set the table, and make sure your guests are ready to eat.

Ingredient Note   Different pastas absorb varying amounts of sauce. On your first try with this dish, note whether you have too little or too much sauce and then adjust accordingly

on the next round, making sure to use the same pasta.

Ingredient Note   Trader Joe’s sells nifty 4-ounce packages of cubed pancetta, which is the perfect amount for many dishes. I keep a couple extra in the freezer because running out of pancetta is not a trivial matter. Of course, you can usually substitute bacon, but the flavor is quite different.

2 tablespoons salt, for the pasta boiling water
½ pound strozzapreti pasta (or other premium-quality pasta)

1 tablespoon cold-pressed, extra-virgin olive oil
4 ounces pancetta, preferably cut into ¼-inch dice  

1 medium-large onion, peeled and sliced into ¼” by 1” matchsticks (2 cups sliced)
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced or pressed 
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced, optional

1 cup cream or water, heated to a simmer (if using water, use the pasta cooking water)
½ cup finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano
½ cup finely grated Pecorino Romano
4 large egg yolks, lightly beaten, room temperature

fine sea salt to taste
plenty of freshly ground black pepper

Garnish
¼ cup Parmigiano Reggiano
2 tablespoons cooked pancetta (from above)
½ teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced, optional

1. Bring a large pot filled with 1 gallon of water and 2 tablespoons salt to a vigorous boil.
2. In a large saute pan, add olive oil, and quickly saute the pancetta until just crisp but still tender. Remove the pancetta to a small bowl and put aside 2 tablespoons for garnishing.
3. Add the onions to the pan. Add a little more olive oil if needed. Saute the onions over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, to caramelize slightly and soften. Add the garlic and sauteed pancetta (minus 2 tablespoons reserved for garnish) to the pan, along with the rosemary if using. Remove the pan from the heat and reserve.
4. In a saucepan, bring the cream or water to a simmer and then whisk in the cheeses until smooth and creamy. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Whisk a few tablespoons of the hot sauce into the eggs to temper them and then whisk the mixture into the sauce in the pan. Reserve.
5. When the pasta water is boiling vigorously, immerse the pasta all at once, stirring with a wooden fork to separate the strands. Put a lid on the pot and return to the boil as quickly as possible. Remove the lid and continue boiling (rapidly but not ferociously) until the pasta tests “al dente.” (To test the pasta, lift a strand out of the pot with a long handled fork and take a bite. The pasta should be tender but at the same time retain some inner resistance to the teeth.) This can take as little time as 15-30 seconds after the boil returns with fresh pasta to 7 minutes or longer with packaged dried pasta. Nothing is more disappointing than overcooked pasta, so watch closely.
6. Drain immediately into a colander and jerk up and down to force most of the water out of the pasta. The pasta must be sauced and served very rapidly to prevent it from cooling and becoming sticky. Always have the serving bowl and individual plates or pasta bowls heated and ready to go. (Have guests ready to go too!)
7. Add the pasta to the saute pan with the still hot pancetta and onions, and toss to coat. Quickly turn the pasta out into a large mixing bowl.
8. Add the sauce mixture. Toss together quickly, season to taste with salt, and add plenty of freshly grated black pepper.
9. Scoop the pasta onto a serving platter or into individual wide-rimmed pasta bowls, and garnish with the reserved pancetta, grated cheese, and rosemary if using.
10. Serve immediately.

Serves 2-3.

Resources

• Carbonara Sauce Debate: Egg Only or Cream Also
• CookThink: Fettuccine Alla Carbonara
• FoodGawker: Carbonara
• Frascatelli Carbonara with Sweet Corn
• Images for Pancetta
• Kitchenography: Spaghetti Carbonara
• Lobstersquad: Heartburn: the book, the movie, the carbonara
• Manicaretti Pastas
• Momofuku2: Marcella Hazan’s Carbonara Recipe
• Oui, Chef: Spaghetti Carbonara
• TasteSpotting: Carbonara
• The Little Teochew: Spaghetti Carbonara
• What’s Cookin, Chicago: Creamy Carbonara

 Copyright 2011 Siusan S. Bradley. All rights reserved.

I’m intrigued and inspired by the creative ways in which Pacific Rim and Northwest chefs are incorporating spaetzle into their dishes these days. This Old World noodle-dumpling is suddenly being elevated to lofty heights, for perhaps some of the following compelling reasons:

• It’s much easier to make spaetzle than fresh pasta, and yet they have similar characteristics.
• Spaetzle lends itself to partnership with a wide range of companion flavors–from subtle to bold.
• When made with care, spaetzle is delicious.
• Spaetzle has a wonderful chewiness.
• Spaetzle has an endearing homey quality. It’s the ultimate comfort food.
• Spaetzle is under utilized outside of its traditional context.

I encountered several inspired spaetzle dishes while dining out in Portland, Oregon this past winter. Each of the following thoughtful, soulful dishes merit a deep bow to the creator:

• Butternut Squash & Gruyere Dumplings with Parsnip Puree, Brussels Sprouts, Hazelnuts, & Sherry Brown Butter (Wildwood)
• Crispy Caraway Spaetzle with Roasted Winter Root Vegetables, Soft Goat Cheese, Toasted Walnuts & Apple-Squash Puree (Wildwood)
• Crispy Sweetbreads, Chestnut Spätzle, Local Mushrooms & Kidney Mustard Sauce (Paley’s Place)
• Fried Pork Shank with Spaetzle, Brussels Sprouts & Agrodolce Onions (Clyde Common)
• Grilled Oregon Lamb Chops with Spiced Lamb Crépinette, Lavender-Pear Chutney, Winter Herb Spätzle, & Lamb Jus (Bluehour)
• Sliced Duck, Sour Cream Spaetzle & Cranberries  (Park Kitchen)
• Spaetzle, Wild Mushrooms & Broccoli Rabb with Thai Yellow Curry Sauce (LunaCafe)

Did you catch that last one?  :-) Even though you can’t physically pop into our virtual café, as you can these other fine restaurants, with just a little effort, you can be eating this spaetzle dish in your own kitchen.  And it’s definitely worth the effort.

INGREDIENT NOTE   With local farmers markets opening across the country this weekend (Portland Farmers Market, here I come!), we will begin to see a glorious array of early spring greens, especially the spring raabs. You can use any of the raabs in this dish, but broccoli raab and it’s close cousins are especially good here:

• Broccoli raab (also called rapini) is a leafy green in the turnip family. The tender stalk, leaves, and florets are all edible. The flavor is full and a little bitter. It’s popular in Italy and many parts of Asia.
• Broccolini is similar to broccoli but with small florets and long, thin stalks. It is a cross between broccoli and kai-lan, which is Chinese broccoli. The flavor is a sweet cross between broccoli and asparagus.
• Broccolette is a cross between Chinese kale and broccoli. The edible stems are elongated and topped with tender broccoli shoots.

Spaetzle, Wild Mushroom & Broccoli Rabb with Thai Yellow Curry Sauce

This dish was inspired by Roy Yamaguchi, chef-author of Roy’s Fish and Seafood: Recipes from the Pacific Rim. In his creation, a spaetzle-vegetable medley serves as the base for a steamed sea bass. However, here, the combination of toothsome spaetzle, local spring mushrooms, broccoli raab, and spicy curry sauce are equally satisfying on their own.

Basic Spaetzle  (about 4 cups prepared)

Thai Yellow Curry Sauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons minced or pressed garlic
2 teaspoons peeled, minced fresh ginger
3 tablespoons Thai yellow curry paste (available at City Market in Portland, Oregon)
1 teaspoon firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup canned coconut milk (stir well before measuring)
finely grated zest of 1 medium lime
2-3 teaspoons fresh lime juice, to taste
fine sea salt, to taste

Wild Mushrooms & Broccoli Raab 
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 ounces pancetta, ¼-inch diced (two ¼-inch thick slices) (not essential if you want a vegetarian dish)
1 teaspoon minced or pressed garlic (1 large clove)
1 teaspoon peeled, minced fresh ginger
1 pound wild mushrooms, such as hedgehogs, chanterelles, baby shiitakes, and/or baby portabellas, rough sliced (about 4 cups sliced)
1 small bunch broccoli raab (rapini), broccolini or broccolette (or other spring rabb of your choice), cut into bite-size pieces, briefly blanched in boiling water, refreshed in ice water, and well drained
-or-
large handful kale, sliced 1-inch wide on the diagonal (about ½ large bunch)
fine sea salt, to taste

1. Prepare the spaetzle through Step 8 and keep warm over low heat.
2. To make the sauce, in a small sauté pan, heat the oil and add the garlic and ginger. Sauté to soften somewhat, but don’t brown.
3. Stir in the curry paste, brown sugar, coconut milk, lime zest, and lime juice. Add salt to taste. Keep warm, partially covered, over very low heat.
4. In a large skillet or wok set over medium-high heat, heat the oil, and sauté the pancetta for a minute or two, until it releases most of its fat. If there is more than 4 tablespoons of total fat in the pan at this point, pour off the excess.
5. Add the garlic and ginger, and sauté for a minute without browning.
6. Add the spaetzle and mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms are beginning to release their juices, about 2 minutes.
7. Add the blanched broccoli raab or kale and toss to heat through.
8. Add the curry sauce and toss to combine.
9. Season to taste with salt and serve in wide-rimmed pasta bowls.

Serves 4.

I grew up eating spaetzle. But I thought it was pasta.  To be even more specific, I though it was NOODLES. It took a curious turn of events to clear this confusion in my mind.

Grandma Mary loaded her Divine Chicken Noodle Soup with these super chewy, squiggly noodles she pushed through a large holed, wire mesh device. They were completely addictive, and I loved them beyond measure. She later gave me the device, but because I had never actually seen her make these noodles (they were always in the soup when I arrived), I tried for years to push regular pasta dough through the mesh, cursing the whole while. It was nigh impossible. And the noodles made in this way were tougher than I remembered hers to be.

Grandma pronounced her noodles shpet-sle, not spate-sel, a pronunciation I heard later from others. I never connected these very different pronunciations with each other. This pronunciation snafu is the reason I didn’t associated her noodles with the spaetzle makers I saw in cookware shops. I had no idea she was making spaetzle all those years. Unfortunately, I neglected to have her show me how to make her famous noodles until it was too late. And after several attempts later to reproduce them, I finally gave up.

It was a mere fluke that made me want to try making spaetzle myself a few months ago. I had never made it, as the few times we ordered it in traditional German restaurants, the dumplings were doughy and bland (nothing that reminded me of Grandma’s noodles). But now I know that was due to poor technique rather than to the dish itself.

The recipe that sent me to the kitchen comes from the brilliant chef, Roy Yamaguchi, in his inspired cookbook, Roy’s Fish and Seafood: Recipes from the Pacific Rim. The recipe is titled, Steamed Sea Bass with Shiitakes, Asparagus, & Spaetzle in Thai Curry Sauce. And it’s OMG good! Inventive American chefs are showcasing spaetzle, rather than pasta, on their menus these days and to very good effect. (Wildwood Restaurant in Portland, Oregon recently featured a most delicious Crispy Caraway Spätzle with Roasted Winter Root Vegetables, Soft Goat Cheese, Toasted Walnuts and Apple-Squash Puree.)

I’ll share with you my riff on Roy’s dish later, but for now just let me say that the spaetzle was a revelation. As I put the first one into my mouth to test for doneness, memories of those years with my German Mennonite grandmother came flooding back. I couldn’t believe it. I was eating her noodles!

Now if this doesn’t count for a miracle, I don’t know what does. Grandma’s noodle recipe is not lost after all. I can hear her laughter in the recesses of my mind.

Basic Spaetzle

Spaetzle is a cross between pasta and dumplings, with a closer affinity to pasta–but much easier to make. When prepared properly, the pasta-dumplings are light, with a lovely, toothsome chewiness.

The shape is usually small and irregular. You can use a spaetzle maker to push the batter-like dough through a ¼-inch holed plate, or more simply, push off small bits from a spatula into boiling water. I recently used a potato ricer with  1/8-inch holes to very good effect. Of course, using this device, the spaetzle are quite narrow.

The recipe that follows is from the German-Swiss-Austrian-Hungarian tradition; however there is no reason to make only one type of spaetzle or to stay within the traditional boundaries. This simple concept lends itself to endless variation, much like the Italian dumpling, gnocchi. I am still coming up with variations and will share those with you in future posts.

I especially love spaetzle sautéed in a little brown butter with the simple additions of chopped toasted walnuts or hazelnuts and freshly grated parmesan. They also make great soup noodles.

Technique Note   It is virtually impossible to specify exactly how much flour you should use in your spaetzle batter. Flours vary from maker to maker, kitchen to kitchen, and day to day (humidity). For most applications, I prefer a batter that is similar in consistency to a stiff muffin batter. If I want to use the spaetzle as soup noodles, I make the batter even stiffer, which makes a firmer, chewier spaetzle. However, the batter can’t be so stiff that you are no longer able to push it through the holes of your chosen device.

2 large eggs
¾ cup milk
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1½ cups King Arthur, unbleached, all-purpose flour (batter should be quite thick; add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired thickness is achieved)

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or melted unsalted butter

For Frying
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or melted unsalted butter

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and salt.
2. With a flexible spatula, stir in the flour. The batter should be quite thick.
3. Cover the batter and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
4. Meanwhile, set a large shallow bowl next to the stovetop and add either 1 tablespoon olive oil or 1 tablespoon soft butter. Locate a slotted spoon or skimmer, plus either a wide, straight-edged metal spatula and small straight-edged spatula, colander and flexible spatula, potato ricer fitted with the largest hole disk, or a spaetzle maker.
5. Spoon the spaetzle batter into your chosen forming tool and with a large spatula, push the batter through the holes into the boiling water. (If you are using the two spatulas, load the larger one with batter and then use the smaller one to cut and push off small pieces of dough into the boiling water.) You may need to do this in batches. Let each batch rise to the surface, which takes about 1 minute.
6. Remove noodle-dumplings from the boiling water with a slotted spoon or skimmer and put into the wide bowl. Toss with the oil or butter. (If you are making spaetzle noodles for soup. put the boiled noodles directly into the soup without coating with oil.)
7. To store for later use, put spaetzle into a covered container and refrigerate until ready to use.  
8. To serve, in a large skillet, add 2 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter. Toss the spaetzle with the oil or butter and brown lightly.

Makes about 4 cups.  

Cheese Spaetzle

• Replace ¾ cup milk with ½ cup ricotta, quark, fromage blanc, small curd cottage cheese, or fresh goat cheese and ¼ cup milk.
• Start with 1 cup flour.

Herb Spaetzle

• To the completed Basic Spaetzle batter, add 1-4 tablespoons single or combined fresh herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, parsley, chives, or green onion.
• If desired, add 1 clove minced garlic.

Pumpkin Spaetzle

• Replace ¾ cup milk with ½ cup pumpkin, other winter squash, or sweet potato puree and ¼ cup milk.
• Start with 1 cup flour.
• If desired, add 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg.

Resources

Wikopedia on Spätzle
As Chefs Expand Culinary Repertoire, Spaetzle Becomes A Popular Pasta Alternative
The Kitchn Blog: Ricotta Spaetzle
Eating Out Loud Blog: Spaetzle for Breakfast