Liechtenstein

STAPLE FOOD

• Milk
• Cheese
• Butter

Käsknöpfle is a triple cheesy pasta

Ingredients

4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3 cups flour

2 Tbsp butter
2 onions, sliced thinly

1/3 cup (heaping) shredded Gruyere
1/3 cup (heaping) shredded Emmenthaler
1/3 cup (heaping) shredded Fontina

Garnish with extra cheese, as desired
Serve with apple sauce [recipe]

Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and flour. Pretend it’s a flurry of snow. Eventually a thick, somewhat pasty batter will form. In this case, pasty is a good thing. It’ll make the noodles perfectly… noodly… in texture. Set it aside for about 30 minutes to rest and let the bumps even out.

Meanwhile, cut and caramelize the two onions. I stopped when they were deep golden, but in Liechtenstein they sometimes fry them until crispy… it’s up to you!

Now, shred up the cheeses. You can easily add more cheese to this recipe if you want to take a walk on the wild side. I almost recommend it. After all, what is the world without extra cheese?

Next, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add plenty of salt to the water and reduce to a simmer, then begin the process of making the Käsknöpfle. In the past I pushed the batter through the holes of a colander (please don’t laugh at my early photography… much). They also sell special spaetzel boards – you can use one of those, too.

This time, I decided to push it through the dull side of a flat cheese grater with the back of a ladle. It worked very well.

Once the squiggly pasta is cooked  (it should only take a couple of minutes – they’ll float when ready), add it to the pan of caramelized onion with all the cheeses.

Ribei

Ingredients

500g semolina

300ml milk

300ml water

1 tbsp (level) sea salt

Rapeseed oil

40g butter

sugar, to garnish

          Combine the milk, water and salt in a pan. Bring to a boil then add the semolina. Take off the heat, cover and allow to soak for at least 3 hours.

          After this time, heat rapeseed oil in a frying pan, add the semolina mixture and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently. Every few minutes take off the heat and allow to stand for a few minutes, so the mixture remains moist.

          Gradually add the butter and continue to cook in this manner for about 20 minutes more, or until golden brown crumbs begin to form in the mixture.

          Turn into a bowl, garnish with sugar then serve accompanied by a coffee and fruit compote.