Pumpkin Spätzle w/ Roasted Vegetables and Mushrooms
One morning I had flipped on the television and it was set to the Hallmark Channel from the previous day’s movie watching and their daily talk show “Home and Family” was on. I am not one for daytime talk shows of any sort but there is a wholesomeness to their program and every once in a while they spark an idea for a craft or a recipe. This was one of those episodes. They had on a Boston Chef, Chris Coombs, who was making a dish that I had never heard of, Spätzle.
Spätzle is a quick-cooking German pasta/dumpling and is a staple in many German households. Usually, it is a basic egg pasta/dumpling dough that is then simply mixed with butter and herbs. There are many regional variations and in recent years adding various vegetables such as squash or carrot puree. It has become one of my favorite things to make as it is quite versatile. I personally don’t have a love for traditional pasta. I like it in small amounts and I enjoyed filled pasta. I do however love dumplings of all sorts. I think that is why I prefer the spätzle as it is a sort of pasta/dumpling hybrid.
It is also incredibly fun to make! It also is a fun activity for children to do as you need to basically play with the dough until it’s ready. When you start , the mixture is a thick batter consistency but as you agitate it, or knead it if you will, the gluten strands form and get stronger making a more solidified mixture. Check out the video to see mixing it in action.
Cooking the spätzle is quite quick and easy when using a spätzle maker, but it can also be done with a colander or a large-holed grater and scraper or wooden spoon. The idea is to allow the dough to fall between the holes of whatever you are using and then scraping it so the pieces fall off into boiling water. I found this instructable of the different ways to make it that I thought would be helpful. I use the maker that they mention at the end with the hopper which was inexpensive and gets used frequently. There is one other style that works as a potato ricer does. Actually, you could use a potato ricer if you wish! This method makes longer noodles than the style in my recipe below. However you choose to form the noodle, you’ll be glad you did!
As for the recipe, over time I have paired many things with the pumpkin spätzle, tweaking along the way. This dish when eaten all together is a great marriage of flavors that fills you up the same way a meat dish would. I have added mushrooms to it for the benefit of my family, but you can easily leave them out if you wish. If you use them, I like using mushrooms with stronger favors as opposed to basic white mushrooms. I combined 3 different types which gave a nice texture balance but you can certainly stick to just one type of your choice. Ok, full discloser, that info is from Rob and my mother who ate and enjoyed the mushrooms as I am allergic to them and had to omit them from my plate. Thankfully the allergy is from a certain amount of mushrooms where I can still cook and remove them without putting myself in danger.
As for the dish…yes, its time consuming as it has many steps, but it can be streamlined by weekly food prep of roasting vegetables or even just peeling and cutting them and freezing them in portions needed for your recipes. Either way, it is way worth the work! it’s also a recipe that can easily be doubled or tripled in order to serve for a dinner party. Your guests will thank you!
Recipe Card
Note: I highly suggest having a digital scale in your kitchen. It takes the guesswork out and makes baking recipes a lot more successful. All of my recipes are written in metric weights. If you do not have a scale and need to convert a recipe or ingredient to volume, you can use the buttons to the right and copy /paste the recipe into the handy recipe conversion tool or the single ingredient conversion.
Pumpkin Spätzle with Roasted Vegetables and Mushrooms
Ingredients
Method
- Blend together the eggs, pumpkin puree, Light cream, honey, mixed spice, kosher salt, and white pepper with either a blender or an emersion blender.
- Empty the mixture into a large bowl and add the parsley, sage, and flour and stir to combine.
- Continue to mix the dough by hand by pulling and slapping it for about 10 minutes to build the gluten structure.*
- You will know it is done when it becomes thick and the dough holds together.
- Cover and allow the mixture to sit for 20 minutes.
- Fill a large pot or stockpot with water and bring to a boil.
- Using a spätzle maker or a colander push the dough through the perforations and into the boiling water and let cook for 2 minutes.
- Drain and set the noodles aside until you finish the rest of the dish. I set them in an even layer on a paper towel-lined cookie sheet and cover to prevent sticking and allowing them to fully dry. You can also toss with a little bit of oil and leave it in a bowl.
- If you won be using it within a half-hour of cooking, pop it in the fridge until needed.
- Preheat Oven to 425℉
- Remove the Beet Greens and set them aside.
- Peel the beets and cut them into medium dice.
- Place the diced beets onto some aluminum foil and toss with a sprinkle of salt and a splash of olive oil.
- Wrap the foil together making a packet and place it on a baking sheet.
- Roast until soft and tender, about 35-40 minutes.
- Prepare the brussel sprouts but removing any damaged leaves, if any, and trim off the bottom to remove the leftover stalk.
- Set aside 4 sprouts for the next section.
- Cut the remaining sprouts into quarters, vertically, by placing the sprout with the base on the cutting board and making two perpendicular cuts through the sprout. By cutting vertically it will keep the leaves attached to its core. Reserve and set aside any leaves that fall off with the 4 sprouts.
- Place the quartered sprouts onto a piece of foil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and a splash of olive oil, closing it to make a packet.
- Place it into the oven on the tray with the beet packet, and roast until you can pierce with a fork easily, about 15-20 minutes.
- When both vegetables are done, remove them from the oven and set them aside until needed in the next section.
- Take the 4 brussel sprouts and remove the leaves from the core, combining them with the leaves that fell off the cut sprouts from the previous section.
- Take the reserved beet greens and remove and discard * the stalks. Chop the greens into small pieces.
- Heat a skillet on medium-high heat with a splash of olive oil.
- Add sliced shallots and brussel sprout leaves and cook for 2 minutes to allow the shallots to soften a bit and the leaves to begin to char.
- Add the sliced garlic, and mushrooms, adding a little more oil if needed, and continue to sauté until the mushrooms have softened and begin to take on some color, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the beet greens, parsley, sage, and the tablespoon of butter and allow it to melt and thoroughly mix with the pan's contents plus a pinch of salt.
- While it is melting, heat up another pan with the other tablespoon of butter and a touch of olive oil (this helps the butter not burn). Add the cooked spätzle to the pan and allow it to toast and reheat. Toss it so all sides can have a chance at getting some color.*
- Add the port or other sweet wine and allow it to reduce for 2-3 minutes before adding the roasted brussel sprouts, tossing to coat everything.
- Heat for another 2 minutes to allow the roasted veggies to heat up.
- Plate 1 cup of spätzle per plate, making a wide shallow well in the center.
- Divide the mushroom mixture between the 4 plates and spoon into the well.
- Place the roasted beets on top in the middle of the mushroom mixture.
- Crumple 1/2 ounce of goat cheese per plate over the dish and garnish with the chopped green onion as well as pomegranate arils.
- Serve and Enjoy!
* Notes (if you see an * please check here):
- You can use any milk you wish including plant-based milk. However, I prefer the richness that light cream or whole milk gives the noodle.
- You can use sweet hawaij or pumpkin pie spice instead.
- Make sure that you reduce the salt if using regular table salt by half.
- For the beets, you want enough to do 4 servings so the amount will vary by size.
- You can use whichever mushrooms you wish. For the pictured dish, we used a combo of shitake, baby portabella, and oyster.
- The kneading of the dough is a fun activity for kids! Have them play with the mixture whilst keeping it in the bowl. If you need a visual, you can watch this short video here.
- If you do not want to use another pan, you can remove the vegetable contents from the pan after they're finished cooking and add the butter and spätzle to the pan in order to toast. Just be sure to keep the removed contents warm until plating. I like doing this simply because then the spätlze can soak up the extra sauce created by the port.