The Austrian version of mac and cheese. So yummy and you must eat it with fried onions. Seriously good food!
A few weeks back I had a wild hair. So much so that I was on the computer late night, was thinking about my friends in Austria, missing them, they have been bugging me to come out, I found a terrific deal on a plane ticket and sure enough I was in Austria this past week. A quick trip but well worth every second that I packed into one week abroad. Holy cow, such a blur. I am one lucky gal that my life allows me to take off on a moments notice and that I have a passport ready to go. I know that I am nuts but my motto has always been, “life is too short” and when an opportunity presents itself you gotta take it. So I did.
My home base was St Anton am Arlberg. St Anton is located in the South Western part of Austria in the Tyrolean Alps. “Am Alberg” meaning the mountain range that St Anton is located- all the towns in the region have “am Arlberg” after the town name. So if I lived in Breckenridge- it would be Breckenridge in the Ten Mile Range. This was my second trip to St Anton. The first was in the Spring of 1990. In 1990, there was no snow and in 2015 there was very little compared to Colorado standards. So needless to say the skiing was difficult for me (ugh, rental skis) but super fun nonetheless- Heck, I got to ski with my favorite ski partner in my life! We also got to go snowshoeing. That was such a terrific experience. We saw some beautiful scenery and we even hiked to a “Hütte” for lunch in a valley that was two miles up in the middle of no where Austria. What made me laugh was that the hut was packed with people. Who the heck hikes up for a bite to eat? Austrians do…
Besides the skiing and snowshoeing in the Alps, we ate amazing food, laughed a ton, caught up after eight years apart, made some great meals, met really fun people from around the world (everyone was so friendly), came up with my own version of speaking German (God help us), drank really good beer, schnapps and Austrian wine, ate a ton of sausage and cheese (they eat a lot of cheese), partied at bars that never close, danced a ton, listened to great live music, aprè’d skied (St Anton is known for the best aprè ski in Europe), went “rodeling” sledding, hung out with the kiddos, learned about how important music is in the St Anton community (so cool), shopped and hung out with amazing friends. I’m not sure how we could have done anymore. It was perfect, especially for a gal that can’t sit still!
So enough about my trip… Let’s talk food… From my first minute in Austria people asked if I had Käsespätzle yet? What, what would that be? Austrian mac and cheese to put it simply. I am not sure where my life was before I ate this. “Shietza”. We were lucky to stop at Senn Hütte while we were on the mountain. They are known for serving the best Käsespätzle in St Anton and it so happens that my friend AnnaLisa is friends with the owners… Lucky us. I got to experience pure calorie bomb delight, rich, stringy melty cheese combined with light dumpling awesomeness and drink homemade schnapps made from a private stash… Whoa… this deserves a recipe. Please enjoy. It’s one of those dishes that you need to try. If you need advice on making, email me- it was hard to get pictures with one hand! Oh, make sure you fry the onions- it’s traditional and needs to be incorporated for a reason! OH MY GOD food!
Käsespätzle- Cheese Spätzle
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 2/3 cup water
- 2 teaspoons salt
- pinch of nutmeg
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 1/2 cups Gruyere cheese Emmental cheese or Swiss cheese
- chopped fresh chives
- one small onion sliced thin
- oil for frying
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, water, salt and nutmeg. Add the flour and mix well.
- Bring a large of salted water to a boil.
- Fill a zip lock baggie with the dough and cut a small hole from one of the corners. Be careful not to cut it too big otherwise you will have big späztle. You don't want that.
- Squeeze two to three inches of the dough into the pot. I do about 10 or so per batch. The spätzle will float when they are cooked. Remove and place into a strainer. Repeat this process until all the späztle are cooked. Rinse with cold water and set aside.
- In a large saute pan melt the butter and add the cooked spätzle until well incorporated. Add the cheese in small batches until it is all mixed in well. You may need to add a little broth if it seems too dense.
- In another saute pan fill it with about two inches of oil and fry the onions until golden brown.
- Serve with fried onions and fresh chives.
Notes
The inspiration for this weeks recipe. We ate this for lunch on the mountain at Senn Hütte. First of all it’s beautiful, delicious and about $8. What? In any American ski resort this would be a $30 lunch.
We met in 1989. We took our first trip to Europe in 1990. We are forever friends and soul sisters. I love this woman. She said to me in 1990 on our trip that she would live in St Anton. I knew she would. She married Theo. A great man from St Anton. I always knew that I would go back. I am so lucky to have friends around the world and so lucky to have the hospitality and love from Annalisa, Theo and their boys. I’ll be back for sure. St Anton is a really special place filled with really special people in my life.
Here we go! Let the games begin!
I just landed into Zurich four hours before this was taken. No jet lag here. Just start moving and go to bed at midnight after wine and catching up, get up the next morning. Get on a new time zone schedule and then it’s all normal from there… Coming back is a different story..
This picture makes me happy. Freedom to wonder into untouched snow. So incredibly peaceful.
This is a shot for advertising..Thanks for my friend Shannon Mullen for taking it. Just so pretty!
Sometimes I go through life and pinch myself and wonder why I get to experience things like this. This was one of those times. Stellar..
Because when you hang out with the ladies, you need a good shadow shot!
It’s hard to explain how beautiful this is. You can see for yourself. The “lines” in the mountain are “shelves” that were built in the 1990’s so that avalanches could be contained. St Anton suffered a huge loss due to an avalanche in 1988.
I am so lucky. Wow! What a view.
Another one of those “is this for real” moments..
Me and the girls. Skiing St. Anton. Shannon, Fiona, Me and Annalisa. Whoop-it-up…
When in Austria, you drink beer. Nuf said. My favorite was Stiegl. Perfectly poured..
Home brewed “hooch” oh, I mean “schnapps”. This one was made from, get this…. the seeds from a birch tree. What? Who the hell thinks of this? It tasted like a tree, not that I know what a tree tastes like. I guess this delicious concoction! LOL!
“Rodeling” yeah, I didn’t know what it was until I did it. Pure insanity. Sliding down a big mountain in the dark on a tiny sled with a person on the back. Then they make you stop at a nice restaurant, eat dinner, drink beer and schnapps, listen to music and then slide back down the mountain. The ride to the bottom was a riot to say the least. Helmets required for this type of chaos…
Ah, then James King. An ex-pat from Alabama entertaining Europe for the past 32 years. Cool cat. We were lucky enough to hear him sing and entertain for my week in St Anton at Happy Valley- a club at Anthony’s Life and Style hotel. So fun. Serious cool dude.
St Anton has a population of 2600 people and two orchestras. They teach all the children how to play an instrument. We went to an event where they were teaching the kindergartners about how different instruments sound. I got a lesson in trombone-ne.. LOL! So fun!
St Cristophe a quaint little hamlet on the way to St Anton. All the ski areas are interconnected, so we skied into this town! So surreal!
These cute little chapel’s are everywhere around Am Arlburg. They all look the same no matter where you go! Even in the middle of no where, like this one!