Recipe for spätzle with braised turkey leg
The South German specialty, spätzle, is served here as a side dish to a delicious braised turkey thigh stew, with lightly boiled carrots and sprinkled with flat-leaf parsley.
Additionally, the recipe includes a video showing you how to prepare your spätzle to achieve the perfect consistency.
Equipment
- Spätzle iron (Option 1)
- Garlic Press (Option 2)
Ingredients
- 2 pcs. Turkey Leg whole leg
- 1 can Onion
- 1 can Carrots
- 0.25 pcs. Celery
- 300 gram Red Wine
- 700 gram Chicken Stock
- 1 bunch Herbs Thyme, rosemary, and parsley, tied into a herb bouquet (bouquet garni).
- Butter for frying
- Oil for frying
- 97 gram Whipping Cream
- Spices salt and pepper
- Sugar
- Lemon Juice
- Gastrique can be replaced with vinegar and sugar.
- 500 gram Carrots
- 500 cloves Wheat Flour
- 18 gram Salt
- 100 gram Water
- 5 pcs. Egg possibly 1 extra
- 4 l Water minimum 4 liters - maybe more, depending on the size of the pot).
- 36 gram Salt for boiling
- 1 bunch Broad leaf parsley for serving
Instructions
Braised turkey legs:
- Heat the oil in a sauté pan or roasting pot.
- Add a knob of butter and brown the turkey legs until they have a nice crust.
- Cut the vegetables into cubes and add them to the meat.
- Add red wine, chicken stock, and the herb bouquet.
- Cover the pot/pan and let the dish simmer for about 2 hours.
- Take the turkey legs out of the pot and set them aside.
- Remove the herb bouquet and discard it.
- Blend the vegetables directly in the pot using a hand blender.
- Reduce the liquid until about 1/3 is gone (takes 15-20 minutes) and add 100 ml of cream.
- Season to taste with gastrique, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
- Shred the meat from the bones and return the meat to the sauce.
- Scrape the carrots clean of soil and cut off the tops and bottoms.
- Boil them in the water you will later use to cook your spätzle, for about 5 minutes until they are just tender but still have a bite.
- Mix flour and salt in a large bowl.
- Add water and eggs and stir the dough together. The amount of eggs you need depends on humidity and similar factors, so start with 4 eggs and add more until you have a thick and smooth batter that resembles choux pastry. If the batter is too thick, you can add some water.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- You now need to "shape" your spätzle from the dough, which can be done in one of two ways:
- 1. Press the dough through a spätzle press (the press is shaped like a very large garlic press). Hold the press over the pot of boiling water as you press the dough through it.
- 2. Spread the spätzle dough thinly on a cutting board. Hold the cutting board at an angle over the pot of boiling water. Cut the dough into strips that drop into the water as you cut.
- You may use some of the boiling water to moisten your knife/spätzle press, which helps the dough slide off more easily into the water.
- Spätzle are cooked when they rise to the surface.
- The cooked spätzle should be placed in a warmed dish as they finish cooking.
- Serve the cooked spätzle with braised turkey leg, boiled carrots, and a sprinkle of flat-leaf parsley.
