Lentils with spaetzle

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500 g lentils, preferably small Alb lentils
• 1 onion(s)
• 1 clove(s) garlic
• 70 g tomato paste
• 200 g bacon, diced
• 4 slices of smoked bacon, approx. 120 g each
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 cloves
• 2 liters of meat broth, lightly salted
• 50 ml red wine, dry
• possibly sauce thickener
• 4 pairs of sausages (Saitenwürstle), or Vienna
• n. B. vinegar
• Salt
• pepper
• 600 g wheat flour (spaetzle flour)
• 6 eggs
• 1 tsp, heaped salt
• n. B. Water, cold

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes

The Swabian national dish

Lentils: In a pressure cooker, fry the diced onion, finely diced garlic clove, and bacon cubes. The onion should not brown. Add the tomato paste and fry briefly. Deglaze with the red wine. Allow the red wine to reduce. When the red wine is almost reduced, add the meat broth. (You can make a light meat broth from stock cubes or granules, but it should only be slightly salty, so only use about half the amount of cubes or granules as directed.) Add the bay leaves and cloves. Finally, add the washed lentils, bring to a boil, close the pressure cooker, and cook on level 2 for about 10-25 minutes. The cooking time depends on the size and quality of the lentils. You’ll have to experiment. We recommend starting with a cooking time of 12 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the bacon slices in salted water until soft. After the cooking time is over, add vinegar to taste. (I use a little vinegar, but I leave the vinegar on the table so everyone can help themselves to their taste.) Thicken the lentils with a sauce thickener to taste. Season with salt and pepper. Add the bacon slices and heat until hot. Heat 1 pair of Saitenwürstle sausages in salted water for each person. Spätzle: Put the flour, salt, and beaten eggs into a food processor, add about 150 ml of cold water, and beat with the dough hook. Continue adding water until you have a smooth, not too hard dough that bubbles when beaten. (If you can’t get a wheat flour, you can also use 500 g of type 405 flour and 100 g of durum wheat semolina.) Now scrape the Spätzle dough into boiling salted water, either with a knife or a spatula using a Spätzle board, or press the dough through a Spätzle machine into boiling salted water. Let the spaetzle boil once, then remove and keep warm.