German pasta - Maultaschen

Maultaschen, ready to go into the broth to cook

Today I'd like to talk a little bit about a German pasta that we tend to eat a lot of.  Traditionally speaking, they're a Lenten food. But, we're Messianic and don't really "do" Lent. So, they're just a monthly feature in our kids' non-GAPS-y meals they need for Kindergarten.

In 2009, the European Union recognized Maultaschen as a regional Swabian delicacy, and the genuine article can only be made and exported from Baden-Würrtemberg.

A little known fact is that Maultaschen are sometimes also known as "Herrgottsbescheißerle". There's a literal translation for that, but I doubt it'd pass the censors. Basically it's a way to cheat on the lacto-ovo vegetarian Lenten fast that was proscribed, because (supposedly) G-d can't see the meat if it's concealed in pasta. Or so they say.

There are several different ways to make them, but I only know one at the moment due to time constraints and this being a pain in the rear (to me!) to make. So, this is one of those things I try to delegate to my husband to help out with, because I just do not do well with delicate pastry-type dough.  I thought that I was more patient than I am. I found out quite differently while trying to work this dough.

Our recipe is coming by way of Trudel Marquardt's blog. If you're in Germany, you may know her from her gluten free cookbooks.

The easiest part of the entire recipe is that you get to decide if you want to make a meat broth or a veggie broth and get that going. Once you've made your Maultaschen, just pop those in to boil for about a minute or so.

The second easiest part, is deciding whether you want to make these with cheeses, meat or vegetarian.

This week's is made with cheese.

Maultaschen in broth. Photo by J.Stahl

Dough:

• 300gram of light gluten free flour (Trudel uses Schär's bread dough - we use Bette Hagman's Featherlight flour mix)
• 3 Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon of salt
• 1 Tablespoon of psyllium husk
• 3-4 Tablespoons of water (about equal to the size of the eggs)
• 1 Tablespoon of sunflower oil

 What you will want to do is to mix everything until it forms into a ball, then wrap that with saran wrap and pop it into your refrigerator for around 30 minutes.

Decide on your filling before you get these rolled out. When we roll ours out, we always make them rectangular, but I don't see why you couldn't use a ravioli press.

Roll out your dough on a well floured surface (we use a Silpat) and then pinch the sides with a fork if you decide to do these all by hand.

Pop in your broth and boil these for just a couple minutes. Serve hot.

Happy cooking!