In addition to bacon, one of my other favorite foods is spaetzle. As weird as that may seem, I love those little dumplings and got hooked on them while I was an exchange student in Germany in high school.

 

Yesterday a friend and I stopped for drinks at Trader Vic’s at the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale. While sipping our mai tais on their beautiful outdoor patio at sunset, we also ordered a few appetizers. One of which was a side dish that consisted of pancetta, spaetzle and several mushroom varieties. While it’s sometimes hard to get in the mood for Fall cuisine in Arizona when it’s 80 degrees outside, this is a perfect dish for this time of year and, more importantly, it contains two of my favorite ingredients.