Pasta with pastrami and caramelized onion, a recipe from German Späztle
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Total: 1 h 10 min Diners: 4
I first encountered spätzle on my trip to Berlin, which we were served in a couple of traditional restaurants as an accompaniment to main courses. I didn’t really see it as a pasta dish as such but as something to have on the side and go snacking.
I was impressed by the type of pasta and then discovered that in most places they make it homemade from flour and egg, like fresh Italian pasta, and that it is traditional in southern Germany and Austria. And there they do have a tradition of making it as a main dish, seasoned with lots and lots of cheese and also pork liver, or spinach, or even eaten for dessert with apples. I even think they were offered to me next to a currywurst.
Looking at the freshly au gratin pasta dish, it certainly reminds me of American macaroni and cheese, the mac & cheese, but also of the macaroni with tomato and chorizo, heavily toasted in the oven, that my mother made when I was little on holidays and the cardinal’s macaroni au gratin with bechamel and butifarra sausage.
Of course, as with pasta, spätzle can be prepared in all the ways we can imagine and also with them can arise many variations of pasta. On this occasion, I found the spätzle in a German supermarket (Aldi) and I had to buy them, I think they cost me no more than 1.5 €. And at home I had some pastrami and as the original idea had been the caramelized onion plus cheese, I thought it was the perfect counterpoint with its characteristic smoky tone.
Making pastrami at home is a major mess so I will always recommend you to buy a good one before you start making it. As you’ll see, this recipe can be as easy as you want it to be because you can buy the caramelized onion ready-made (it always gives us that recognizable flavor it has that we can’t take away) and you can skip the step of frying the shallot and put some chopped green onion on top. Or even a bit of chives.
How to make spätzle with pastrami
. Pasta with pastrami Clara Villalón
Ingredients
. Shallot, 3 pc White onion, 1 pc Purple onion, 1 pc Butter, 40 g Extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons Spatzle type pasta, 350g Pastrami, 150 g Salt, c/s Ground black pepper, c/s White cheddar cheese, 100 g Shredded gouda cheese, 120 g
Step 1
Melt the butter over a lively heat, with a little oil so it doesn’t burn. Peel and finely chop the shallot and fry in that butter, until well browned. Remove and set aside.
Step 2
Peel and chop the red onion and white onion into fine julienne strips. Add a little more oil to the pot and put the onion in, caramelize over low-medium heat with a little salt, stirring occasionally.
Step 3
Slice the pastrami, remove the fatty parts and cut into small squares. Leave a little more to slice it thinly and arrange it at the end of the recipe on top. Add the pastrami to the onion. To speed up the process, cover and turn up the heat. But we will have to be careful and stir it very constantly.
Step 4
Meanwhile, boil the pasta in salted water two minutes less than what the package says. Then drain well and cool under running cold water. Also add a little oil so that the pasta does not stick together.
Step 5
When the onion is already well caramelized add the pasta to the pot and turn off the heat. Mix everything very well and cover completely with the two types of cheese and also with the black pepper.
Step 6
Grill with the oven on high, until the cheese is well melted and starts to color.
Step 7
Top with the fried shallot and finely chopped pastrami.
Tips and suggestions
If we want to leave it done beforehand, a good trick is not to gratin it at the moment. Leave it in the fridge all prepared and when we want to eat it leave the oven at 180 ºC and then let it heat up well for 15-20 minutes. Then put the grill to brown on top.
