Allgäu Käsespätzle with Frizzled Onions

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup milk
• ½ tsp salt, plus a grating of nutmeg
• 1½ cups grated Emmental or Gruyère
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp chopped chives

Method

1. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium and cook the onions low and slow, stirring now and then, until deep amber and crisp at the edges, 15–20 minutes. Salt them at the end.
2. Meanwhile beat flour, eggs, milk, salt, and nutmeg into a thick, elastic batter — it should tear slowly off a spoon. Rest 10 minutes.
3. Bring salted water to a simmer. Press the batter through a spätzle press or the holes of a colander in batches; the noodles are done 30 seconds after they float. Scoop into a warm bowl.
4. Layer hot spätzle with handfuls of cheese, letting each layer melt before the next — the residual heat does the work.
5. Pile the frizzled onions on top, scatter with chives, and serve straight from the bowl before anyone can set a table.