German Soup Dumplings ('Maultaschen')

Start by preparing the noodle dough:

In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Slowly incorporate the eggs and olive oil and briefly knead the dough until smooth. If your dough doesn't come together after a few minutes of kneading, add a few splashes of water. However, stay patient and only add a little water at once. Cover the kneaded dough tightly with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter or in the fridge for at least 1/2 hour.

Prepare your filling:

While the dough rests, prepare the filling. Heat the butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Sweat the onion for 2-3 minutes until translucent. Add the spinach and saute until it is wilted which should take no more than 2 minutes. Place the spinach-onion-mixture on a large cutting board and finely chop. Add the spinach-onion-mixture into a large mixing bowl. Finely mince the bratwurst filling. Add the ground meat, bratwurst filling, parsley, egg, and mustard to the mixing bowl. Season the filling to taste with nutmeg, black pepper, and salt. If you're not willing to taste the raw filling, pan fry a little burger patty inside a saute pan and taste the cooked filling. Be careful when seasoning as the bratwurst and mustard are already salty.

Assemble your dumplings:

Divide the rested noodle dough into two evenly sized pieces. Roll out each piece of noodle dough in batches using a pasta machine until the dough sheet is slightly opaque but not paper thin. Before you start to decrease the width of your pasta machine, pass the dough through the widest setting of the machine a few times and fold it afterward to develop and align the gluten network. You can also try rolling out the dough by hand, however, this is far more laborious than using a pasta machine.

Fill your pasta dough by spreading the filling on the dough sheet leaving about 1 inch of space at the edges. Lightly wet the edges with water. Roll the dough sheet into a sausage and use the handle of a wooden spoon to divide the sausage into individual dumplings. There should be no air pockets inside the dumplings and they should be wrapped very tightly. Cut the dumplings to separate them and lightly dust them with flour.

Cooking the dumplings:

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a light simmer and let the dumplings cook inside the simmering water for about 10 minutes. Heat the beef broth and season to taste with red wine vinegar, nutmeg, and salt. You could also cook the dumplings inside the beef broth, however, this traditional method could cloud your broth. Once the dumplings are ready, drain them, divide them among individual soup bowls, and ladle over the hot broth. Serve together with a Swabian potato salad.