I’m not gonna lie. This isn’t a gourmet dish that came about through many moons of research and testing. It was birthed when its parents, desperation and craving, met late one night in a refrigerator half-stocked with vegetables my mother has never heard of and more booze than I would ever care to tell her about. We all know that chance encounters sometimes don’t work out, but on that night, desperation and craving were at the right place at the right time. It was love at first sight.

Desperation wanted to use all of the ingredients in the kitchen that were on their last legs. Craving wanted nothing more than a giant bowl of wiggly spaetzle — the same spaetzle that caused a young culinary student (ahem) to hide in a corner of the kitchen storeroom while shoveling it into her mouth with her bare hands.

Together, desperation and craving created a meal with echoes of that curious day when three-quarters of the spaetzle mysteriously disappeared from the Culinary Arts 122 class. Only this time, there was broccoli rabe, prosciutto and toasted pine nuts to share the spotlight. (Click on “Read the rest of this entry” for recipe.)

A big hug and thank you to Val, who  in my hour of need typed the spaetzle recipe to me in an e-mail. The original recipe is from one of the earlier editions of the CIA’s “Professional Chef,” but it was inexplicably taken out in later versions of the book (too many students hiding in storerooms?). I tweaked the recipe based on what I had in my fridge, and it’s just as good as I remember.

BROWN BUTTER SPAETZLE WITH PROSCIUTTO AND BROCCOLI RABE
Yield: 2 to 3 servings

• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup parsley, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 medium onion, minced
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1 bunch broccoli rabe, chopped
• 1/4 pound sliced prosciutto, chopped
• Garnish: Parmesan cheese, lemon juice

PROCEDURE
1. Put a large pot of salted water on the stove and over high heat to boil.
2. In a large bowl, crack the eggs and add milk, parsley, salt and pepper and mix until combined. Add in flour a little bit at a time and mix until combined. The dough will be a bit runny, and this is just fine. Let sit for 10 minutes to rest.
3. Put a colander or cheese grater over the pot of boiling water and spoon dough through holes. You’ll have a bunch of wiggly noodle nuggets that drop into the pot. Cook these for 5 to 6 minutes until just tender. Drain.
4. Melt butter in a sauté pan over high heat. When butter starts to separate and brown, have your ingredients at the ready. You’ll know the butter is ready to go when you start smelling a sweet, nutty aroma.
5. Dump in the drained spaetzle, garlic, onion, pine nuts and broccoli rabe. Cook in browned butter for about 2 minutes, then remove from heat. Toss in prosciutto and top with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 10:30 pm and is filed under Fruit/Vegetables, In the kitchen, Main dishes, Pasta/grains. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.