Steak-Spaetzle-Stilton

Ok so do you hear an S theme here? It wasn't intentional, but we had a hankering for spaetzle and we had lovely flat-iron steaks just waiting to be eaten. I had a gorgeous piece of stilton that was starting to get old so I made a bechamel (no, Coralie, I didn't heat the milk) and crumbled stilton into it. We decided to make an herbed cornmeal spaetzle. Couldn't find a recipe so we invented. It turned out great, a slight cornmeal texture and just herby enough to stand up to the creamy stilton sauce. Next time though I think we'll use a bit more cornmeal to give it a bit more flavor. Here it is:


Cornmeal/Herb Spaetzle with Stilton Bechamel
1 1/4 c. Flour
1/4 c. fine cornmeal (you could add more, the cornmeal flavor was light)
2 large eggs beaten
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 c. water
2 tbsp fresh herbs, chopped fine (I used parsley, oregano and rosemary)


Mix dry ingredients together. Make a well in the middle and add egg, combine well, add water and mix until a gloopy mass. Add fresh herbs and stir in.


What I do when I make spaetzle is put it in a pastry bag with a #12 tip and squeeze and snip. Should I call it squeeze and snip pasta? Many recipes recommend pushing through a colander or getting a spaetzle maker, I find this works fine as you can make small batches.

Wait 1 minute after the spatzele float to the top, remove with a slotted spoon and put into a colander to drain. Usually after this I put them in a baking dish with some butter and cook them for a bit, but in this case as I had the cheese sauce, I just put them into the oven to keep warm until the steaks were ready.

For the stilton bechamel, make a bechamel that uses about 1 1/2 cups milk. (I don't actually measure for my bechamel) I fried a shallot in the butter before adding the flour as well. Then crumble about 1/4 cup of stilton into the finished bechamel and whisk until smooth. Definitely a recipe I would make again. The spaetzle recipe would serve 4 with other courses. Enjoy!!!