Spaetzle with Brandied Mushrooms -- Tyler Florence Fridays

I absolutely love spaetzle and enjoy making my own, so when I saw that Tyler Florence had a spaetzle recipe on foodnetwork.com I knew I had to give it a try for Tyler Florence Fridays. I was wondering what to serve it with, and thought of part of a recipe that I saw on Natashya's amazing site, Living in the Kitchen with Puppies, she made Tyler's NY Strip Steak with Brandied Mushrooms and raved about the mushrooms and I had them book marked in my mind to try. Spaetzle and mushrooms are a match made in heaven, at least in my book :)

spaetzle close-up

Tyler's Spaetzle

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives

In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. In another mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the egg-milk mixture. Gradually draw in the flour from the sides and combine well; the dough should be smooth and thick. Let the dough rest for 10 to 15 minutes.

Bring 3 quarts of salted water to a boil in a large pot, then reduce to a simmer. To form the spaetzle, hold a large holed colander or slotted spoon over the simmering water and push the dough through the holes with a spatula or spoon. Do this in batches so you don't overcrowd the pot. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until the spaetzle floats to the surface, stirring gently to prevent sticking. Dump the spaetzle into a colander and give it a quick rinse with cool water.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat and add the spaetzle; tossing to coat.

Cook the spaetzle for 1 to 2 minutes to give the noodles some color, and then sprinkle with the chopped chives and season with salt and pepper before serving.

Here is the recipe for the brandied mushrooms --

Extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 pounds wild mushrooms, trimmed, brushed clean with a towel and stemmed, caps left whole

(I sliced my mushrooms, stems and all, after washing them, but next time I will have to try just the caps)

Leaves from 2 sprigs fresh thyme (I used dried)

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 cup brandy

1/2 cup heavy cream

Put a saute pan over medium-high heat and add 1/4 cup olive oil. When the oil is smoking, add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, about 10 minutes, until golden brown. Then add the thyme and garlic, and season well with salt and pepper. Toss a few more times to cook the garlic, then dump the mushrooms out onto a platter. Take the pan off the heat, add the brandy, and cook until almost evaporated. Add the cream and cook that down 2 to 3 minutes until reduced by about one-half and thickened. Return the mushrooms to the pan with whatever juices have collected on the platter and simmer the whole thing another 2 minutes until thickened again. Season with salt and pepper.

Results & Changes: For the spaetzle I used my handy spaetzle press and left out the pepper (not a black pepper fan) and chives. I was a bit nervous because of the large amount of nutmeg and the egg flour ratio, my usual spaetzle recipe uses 1 egg to 3 cups of flour and only 1/8 tsp nutmeg, but to my surprise these spaetzle were perfect! I loved the nutmeg flavor and the texture of these spaetzle was just right on! I will for sure be making these again, although I think the nutmeg flavor might be a little strong for some people (my husband is not a nutmeg fan so I sometimes leave it off for him). As for the butter to saute the spaetzle in, I think 3 tablespoons was a little too much, you would be fine with just 1 tbsp and a pan sprayed with Pam.

The mushrooms I sliced instead of just using the caps, used dried thyme, and halved the recipe. Wow! Natashya was right, these are wonderful, I could eat these every day I think, but I am a huge mushroom fan...so maybe I'm biased. This dish was so delicious, it is a make again recipe, yum! As for serving size, the spaetzle recipe makes a smaller batch than what I am used to, and I think 6 servings (per foodnetwork website) is quite a stretch, maybe 6 really small side dish servings. If you were serving this as a lunch with a salad or something I'd say two servings. I loved my choices this week and just have to say thanks to Megan, Deb, and Natashya, for all their work hosting TFF, I have so much fun with this event :)