Table of Contents

This is the Swabian dish, no questions asked, accepted or even answered. The original name is “Linsen mit Spätzle” which roughly translates to “lenses with small sparrows”, most likely a reference to the outstanding quality of East-Swabian optical instruments and the extreme poverty of Swabia before the onset of industrialisation (The Swabian Highlands are basically located on chalk ground which happily drains all water down into huge cave systems leading into the Danube - bad luck if you try to be a farmer of anything else than cacti).

things needed

time needed

procedure

Day 1

  1. rinse the lentils.
  2. cut the onion into small pieces and tan them in the small big pot with a little bit of oil.
  3. add the lentils, stirr.
  4. add 2 liters of water.
  5. boil for like 1 second, then turn off the heat and leave the lentils soaking over night.

Day 2

  1. clean and slice the celery, carrot and leek into dice-sized pieces.
  2. put the pieces, the laurel and the pork belly into the small big pot
  3. put to the boil and leave simmering for one to two hours
  4. per person 100g flour, 1 egg, some salt and the right amount of water, into the bowl.
  5. stir with the wooden spoon until you have Spätzleteig - some unnecessary violence may be necessary towards the end when we're expecting small bubbles of air in the dough; maybe you have a well-trained, quite physical man in your household that will be happy to show off;)
  6. leave the dough resting, maybe in the fridge.
  7. put plenty of water and plenty of salt into the big big pot and heat up - the water must not boil, just simmer or you will wind up with something else than Spätzle.
  8. add the sausages to the lentils.
  9. now comes the messy part: use the Spätzlepresse to put a Spätzlepresse-ful of dough into the simmering water.
  10. when the Spätzle come buoy to the surface, pray two Ave Maria, then you may remove the Spätzle using the spider. Put them into the colander and maybe cover them with a plate or so to keep them from drying out.
  11. repeat the two steps above until you have used up all dough, after that you can remove the big big pot from the stove.
  12. clean and hack the parsley.
  13. add it to the lentils.
  14. prepare some roux blanc in the small pot and add it to the lentils. Seriously, I never do that because I'm perfectly incapable of creating a satisfying result (you see, I didn't say fsck). It's not necesary, yet nice to have.
  15. stir the lentils once, then add spices.
  16. remove the pot from the stove.
  17. add vinegar to make the lentils a wee bit sour. Or just leave that up to your guests by serving the vinegar asides.
  18. remove the laurel.
  19. serve hot, Spätzle first, the same amount of lentils on top, and a piece of meat/sausage.

important

General Caution is advised!

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