A fusion dish that combines southern Germanic comfort food with slight Japanese influences. It's actually so simple, there's not much more to say...
Another frauthentic fusion dish I conjured up when torn between my favourite comfort foods from two different cultures and wondered, "Why not just combine them?" Schnitzel is most often associated with Austrian cooking and its legendary Wiener schnitzel made with veal. But, not only is schnitzel made with other meats in many German-speaking regions, there's pretty much a version of it in many cuisines from French and Italian to Spanish and, of course, Japanese with its tonkatsu.
Similarly, spätzle, a kind of "egg noodle", usually made with wheat or occasionally potato flour, is produced in numerous regions of German-speaking countries including Germany, Switzerland and Austria as well as (regions of) other European countries with a historic cultural connection such as Hungary, Alsace or Slovenia. I'm using Swabian spätzle, the version often purported to be the best, but really any kind works—let's just say that Schwäbischer spätzle has had the most effective PR machine.
If anything, you're going to have a harder time finding spätzle in a UK supermarket than Japanese panko breadcrumbs—the only supermarket chain in the UK that stocks spätzle intermittently that I know is Lidl. You usually need to order it from a specialist online retailers in the UK.
Yes, it's entirely possible to make spätzle from scratch and I have done so on numerous occasions. But, just as with making your own pasta, the flavour benefits often don't outweigh those of a decent pre-made, dried version. Unless, of course, I'm just rubbish at it, which is entirely possible.
I'm serving the schnitzel and spätzle here with a riff on traditional Austrian or German Gurkensalat, cucumber salad, simplicity itself, but here with a Japanese nod.
This recipe serves 2 diners, scale it up or down or needed
Shopping list
for the panko chicken schnitzel
1 large chicken breast per diner
Approx. 4 tbspns cornflour, sifted
1 egg, whisked
Approx. 1 cup of panko breadcrumbs
Enough sunflower oil to fill your frying pan 1 to 2cm deep
salt and pepper to taste
creamed horseradish; as a condiment
for the spätzle
Approx. 170g dried spätzle
2 large echalion shallots, finely sliced and separated into "rings"
Approx. 150g closed-cup mushrooms, sliced
A generous clutch of fresh parsley, chopped
Approx. 60g of soft goat's cheese (if you can get a soft bergkäse, even better)
A generous knob of butter
salt and pepper to taste
for the cucumber salad
½ a cucumber, very finely sliced (at last, a use for that bit on your grater!)
2 tspns of blackened sesame seeds
3 tbspns olive oil
3 tbspns of white wine vinegar
½ tspn dijon mustard
½ tspn toasted sesame oil
Cooking Method
The panko chicken schnitzel
Cut each chicken breast vertically into thin slices no more than 1cm thick; think of a "larger, thinner and flatter" chicken goujons. Season minimally with a little salt and pepper if preferred — I don't usually bother. NB: most traditional schnitzel recipes call for "flattening" the meat or poultry element with a tenderiser. In developing this recipe, I think it works better without doing that
Set up your "frying station". In three different, shallow containers: a) the sifted cornflour sprinkled evenly; b) a whisked raw egg; c) panko "breadcrumbs
In a reasonably deep pan, pour sunflower oil until 1 to 2cm deep; heat on a high heat
Once the oil is hot, in sequence, add each chicken fillet to the cornflour, coating it on both sides. Then dip it into the whisked egg bath, then roll in the panko, sprinkling a little over the top and pressing down as needed i.e. panko is generally a bit more difficult to get to adhere than traditional golden breadcrumbs
Fry in the oil, turning to ensure each fillet cooks evenly on both sides until the crumbs turn golden. When cooked, remove from the pan and drain off the excess oil on paper kitchen towel. NB: you can cook it in an air fryer (but spritz with a little oil and turn during cooking). But, do not deep fry. This is hardly a health "moan": in these thinner slices, it turns the chicken into a kind of cardboard before there's any chance of rescuing it
You can prepare the panko schnitzel at the same time as the rest of the meal, depending on how many pots and pans you want to juggle. Even if running it all simultaneously, you'll need to keep the cooked schnitzel warm in the oven because only a very, very big pan will allow you to cook them all at once
Or, you can cook them up to 72 hours before, drain on the kitchen towel and store, covered, in the fridge once cooled. To reheat, place on a non-stick baking tray in a medium hot oven. TIP: place a little oven-proof dish containing about 1cm of water in a tray on a shelf below to prevent drying
Plate with the other elements of the meal and garnish with a generous dollop of creamed horseradish
The cucumber salad
Using the "slicer" section of a grater or another relevant method, slice the cucumber very thinly
Create your dressing by thoroughly mixing the olive and toasted sesame oil, vinegar and dijon mustard together. TIP: try pouring them into a clean cocktail shaker (okay, or a glass jar if you have no glamour) and shake as if a cocktail
Sprinkle the blackened sesame seeds over the cucumber. Pour in a restrained amount of the dressing, gently fold in and store in a sealed dish in the fridge for at least 40mins. The dressing should only constitute a very thin "film" over the cucumber
Remove from the fridge to return to room temperature 5 to 10 mins before serving. Plate and serve with the other elements
The spätzle
Bring about 1.5l of lightly salted water to the boil in a large pot with a lid. When boiling vigorously, add the spätzle, cover and boil for about 5 min, then simmer on a low heat for a further 7 to 9 mins, stirring occasionally (check manufacturer cooking times; they vary)
While the spätzle are cooking, in a frying pan, heat a generous knob of butter on a medium-high heat until it starts to bubble. Add the shallots and sauté, stirring regularly
When the shallot "rings" begin to soften, add the mushrooms, stir and sauté until cooked, seasoning with black pepper
When the spätzle is optimally cooked, thoroughly drain in a colander and return to the still hot pot—make sure the heat is now off—throw in a knob of butter and the raw chopped parsley and stir together. Add the hot shallots and mushrooms and stir in
Plate while hot as a substantial side dish. Crumble the soft goats cheese over the still hot plated spätzle and take to table
Alternatives
Vegetarians and vegans
I'd love to say I had a viable veggie or vegan version: I don't. The egg presents a problem for vegans and, yet, it's really needed to get panko to adhere—not to mention that spätzle almost always contains egg. And, before we even go there, there's the experience of the vegetable schnitzel itself. So far the only acceptable version has involved 1cm-thick vertical sections of courgette. It was nice—more tempura than schnitzel—but still a little lacklustre
In terms of the spätzle, if you're feeling a little fancy, you can take them in a more Japanese direction with shiitake mushrooms; or more "Germanic" with wild forest mushrooms. Or, I guess—I've never tried it yet—a combination of the two.
Carnivores
Not really any reason you can't try it with veal, in which case I would batter it into submission or—and this is still conceptual and hasn't been tested—very thin wagyu steak. Probably overkill with the panko, but who knows?
Pairings
In keeping with the Germanic aspect of this dish, it works incredibly well with a nice riesling with the vague threat of a bubble or a Grüner Veltliner that isn't too overwhelmingly acidic. But, given that it's a recipe not that far from the flamenquines of Andalusia, I love it with Spanish whites, albeit wines from other regions like white Riojas or Albariños. But, hey, probably just shows my ignorance of Andalusian wines that work well...
Looking more to its Japanese flavours, it's great with cold beer. 乾杯
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