Maultaschen (Schwabian Pasta Parcels)

Legend has it that in the 17^th century, a resourceful monk at the Maulbronn monastery sought to conceal his appetite for meat during the Lent, so he mixed the meat with spinach and wrapped it in noodle dough to hide it from God, hence the nickname ‘Herrgottsbescheißerle’ (God Cheaters). Maultaschen became wildly popular in Germany and were traditionally served on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. My paternal grandmother used to call them ‘taschkerle’ in her Eszekerisch slang and would fill them with a mix of spinach and leftover sausage meat, then cook in beef broth and serve with boiled potatoes dredged in fried onions. Whether just boiled, fried in lard or geschmälzt (cooked and folded into fried breadcrumbs) – this Swabian specialty is irresistibly delicious.

Ingredients

Serves 4

Dough:

2 cups plain flour

2 eggs

4 tbsp cold milk

Salt

Filling:

300g bratwurst sausage mix

200g spinach, blanched and finely chopped

½ cup bread crumbs

1 egg

Marjoram, pinch

Pepper, pinch

Nutmeg, half a pinch

100g smoked bacon, finely diced

1 egg white

2-3 cups beef stock

Method:

1. Prepare noodle dough by kneading flour, eggs, a pinch of salt and water; roll out very thinly. Mix together the sausage meat, parsley and egg. Blanch spinach, drain, chop finely and add to the meat mixture. Season with salt, pepper, marjoram and nutmeg. Braise diced, smoked bacon and add to mixture.
2. Cut dough into 15 cm squares and spread a liberal amount of filling on them. Brush edges with egg white; fold squares over to form triangles and secure edges tightly, press the edges with a back of the fork to seal the filling inside.
3. Simmer the parcels in hot broth for about 10-15 minutes (do not boil).
4. Serve in broth, sprinkled with chopped parsley. If you have any leftovers the next day, cut the Maultaschen in stripes, reheat on the bed of fried onions, and serve with boiled potatoes.

Note: By old German tradition the serving suggestions are as follows: on Holy Thursday, serve them in broth. Fry them in fat and onion on Good Friday. And if any remain, bake them on Saturday with a little cheese and serve with potato salad.