Liechtensteiner Entree
KÄSKNÖPFLE
(Cheese Pasta)
INGREDIENTS
2¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
⅔ cup water
1 medium onion
1½ tablespoons butter
6 cups water
5 ounces Gruyère, Emmenthaler, or Appenzeller* cheese
2 ounces sour cheese: ricotta, cottage, Limburger, goat, Harzer*, or other
* = Appenzeller and Harzer cheeses are your first choices, but they are powerful hard to find in supermarkets. Better luck will be found online.
Serves 4. Takes 45 minutes.
PREPARATION
Add flour and salt to large mixing bowl. Mix with whisk. Add eggs and ⅔ cup water to small mixing bowl. Mix with whisk or fork. Add watery eggs to large mixing bowl. Knead with hands until you get a firm, smooth dough ball. Dough should be thin enough to be pushed through holes in slotted spoon. If not, add a little more water and knead once more. Cover with damp cloth and let sit for 15 minutes.
While dough sits, grate or crumble Gruyère and sour cheeses. Mince onion. Add onion and butter to pan. Sauté at medium-high heat for 5 minutes or until onion softens. Stir frequently.
Add 6 cups water to large pot. Bring water to boil using high heat. Push dough ball through holes in slotted spoon into boiling water. You should be getting teeny, tiny bits of dough falling in the pot. Stir enough to keep dough from sticking to bottom of pan. Using slotted spoon, skim off dough bits as they float to the surface and add them to a serving bowl.
Add Gruyère and sour cheese to serving bowl. Mix dough bits and cheese with fork until well blended. Top with sautéed onion. Serve with applesauce or green salad.
TIDBITS
1) This is a Liechtensteiner entree. Liechtenstein is a tiny country. It needs a tiny tidbit. Indeed, if you were to spread out a picnic towel, part of the towel would spill over into neighboring Austria. To avoid international incidents, the Treaty of Vaduz forbids expressly picnics in Liechtenstein.
– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.
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