The Family Table: How I ruined dinner
I was excited for our family’s Monday night dinner.
Josie and I had spent the day before in the kitchen, plotting out the meal. She made spätzle using her spätzle maker, coating the tiny German dumplings in a bit of olive oil so they didn’t stick together and could be quickly turned into a meal.
I layered them in a 9×13 pan, topping each layer with a blend of shredded cheese and pepper and finishing it all off with a layer of caramelized onions. I’d taken care of those Sunday while Jo made the spätzle.
It really was to be an easy-peasy meal. Bake the dumplings, make a salad, heat up a veggie and sit down at the table.
Unfortunately, I ruined it. Or rather, tiny shards of glass from a broken bottle did – though, admittedly, the broken bottle was 100% my fault.
One of my husband’s colleagues at work had given him a bottle of homemade wine last week, and we’d shared it over the weekend. Mike told me to save the bottle so he could return it. And so, as he was leaving for work Monday, I tried to hand it to him to take back.
He thought I’d rinsed it; I thought he had.
Not wanting to forget about it that evening, I sat it by the sink.
That was my first mistake.
The second was my tendency to gesture with my hands while I talk.
Wes was in the kitchen with me as I assembled the spätzle bake, and I was talking with my hands.
The crash was loud. The neck of the bottle hit the edge of the baking dish. The bottle shattered. There was glass on the counter, on the floor and, yes, there were tiny green shards of it in the spätzle.
Both dogs were in the kitchen – those four-legged beggars know their chances of a bite of something increase exponentially when I’m cooking. Wes got them out. The one thing that would’ve topped our ruined meal would’ve been a trip to the vet to remove glass from one of their paws.
I cleaned, sweeping, mopping and wiping counters – and sadly dumped out our dinner.
By then, Mike was walking in the door.
Wes had told him about my misadventure.
He asked what he could do to help get dinner on the table.
We went for Mexican.
Always the kitchen helper, Josie promised to make another batch of spätzle this weekend so we can give the bake another go for next Monday’s dinner. In return, I promised to remove all breakable items from the counter top so I don’t ruin it.
Never a dull moment.
Baked Spätzle
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons salt
1 ½ cups whole milk
6 eggs, beaten
Pepper
8 oz. shredded Italian blend cheese
1 large onion, caramelized
Mix the flour, salt and pepper together in one bowl, and the milk and eggs together in another bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk together until blended. Let the batter sit for about 20 minutes, while bringing a pot of water to a boil. While Josie has a gadget to make the spätzle, a colander with ¼-inch holes will also work. Pour about 1 cup of batter into it, and press it through with a spatula right into the pot of boiling, salted water. You’re looking for about 1-inch dumplings.
They’ll float after a minute or two. Remove them with a slotted spoon and put them into a second colander to drain. When they’re all made, rinse and coat them with a tiny drizzle of olive oil, put them in a bowl and put them in the fridge.
To assemble the bake, in greased 9×13 pan, put down half of dumplings, top it with half the cheese and a sprinkle of pepper. Repeat for the second layers and top it with caramelized onions. Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes.
I’d recommend caramelizing the onion in advance because it takes about an hour. Thinly slice the onion into half-moons and melt one tablespoon of butter in a pot. Start off on medium high heat, making sure the onion slices are coated in butter. Once it starts to cook, but before it starts to brown, turn the onions down to low and continue stirring until they turn a deep brown color. They’ll be sweet and delicious.