Spätzle with Chicken in Creamy Bärlauch Sauce

We’re nearing the end of Bärlauch (Bear’s Garlic) season, but I look forward to picking up the series again next year. This week’s featured supper definitely appealed to my Scheiß-Ami palate: Spätzle with chicken in a creamy Bärlauch sauce.

Spätzle feels like something I shouldn’t have to explain, but I’m surprised how many people find the concept new or confusing: They are egg noodles, formed by running the dough through a press or special device, or by spreading the dough thin on a wooden board and cutting it with a knife. Which ever method you choose, the dough is sent right into a pot of boiling water; the finished noodles can be kept warm until the rest of the meal is ready, or even refrigerated for use the next day.

I have never made Spätzle myself, but I have seen it done on television–all three ways. Normally I buy dried noodles and serve them with mushroom/sour cream sauces and pork. I’m surprised I forgot to write about them during the Lockdown, honestly. They’re pure Bavarian/Swabian comfort food, especially with cheese.

Note for US readers: I was able to find dried Spätzle in Indiana ten years ago, so it may still be possible. Let me know.

This week I purchased, for the first time, heat-and-eat Spätzle out of the refrigerated section of a supermarket. I still occasionally read comments like “Europeans don’t eat processed food” on the socials, from Americans trying to shame working moms and poor people, and I’d like you all to know that is a lie, at least in Germany. I walk by/into four different supermarket chains every week, and they’re all pretty much the same as supermarkets in Iowa. And now that I have experienced how yummy and easy it is to get Spätzle in sauce without having to wash a second pot, I will buying the heat-and-eat every time they go on sale.

Anyway, the dish:

Start by cooking some chopped-up chicken breast in a big pan. Use your biggest pan. I should have used a bigger pan. Remove the finished meat and then sautee some red onion. When you’re happy with it, add the Spätzle and let them get a little brown. (If you have dried noodles, you can boil them in a separate pot first.)

While this is happening, mix up the chopped Bärlauch with Schmand (analogous to US sour cream), cream, cream cheese, and chicken broth. My little food mixer/chopper was too small for this step; I used the Stabmixer to combine the Bärlauch and cream cheese, then combined the broth and sour cream in a different bowl.

This way lies madness, btw.

Time to pour both sauces into the noodles, mix them up well, and cook them until the sauce reduces a bit. Did I mention you need to use your biggest pan? Use your biggest pan. Trying to mix this all up separately in my second-biggest pan was a hot sloppy mess.

Next time, I will also deglaze my biggest pan with a bit of white wine; the sauce was extremely tasty but could always use that extra shot of umami/Maillard goodness.

Everything is better with Rostzwiebeln, fried onions. They’re not just for Thanksgiving’s green bean casserole, you know.

I am absolutely making this again next year.