Make It Yourself...Käsespätzle (Cheese Spätzle With Fried Onions)

Clockwise: from top L:  Prepared baking dish, cheese with nutmeg,
Serving portion, caramelizing onions, slicing onions,
European Mac and Cheese!

Here’s a delicious way to use spätzle, or what I think of as “batter noodles”.  I commented that I wanted to experiment some more with this recipe, and my husband said, rather firmly, that it was perfect just like this.  This "European mac and cheese" is popular in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and other areas of Europe; often with different names.

The trick to perfect spätzle is to stir it until the batter starts to get stringy.  That keeps it from falling apart when you cook it.  You can use a spätzle maker if you wish, but I simply cut the batter off in noodles from a wet cutting board or plate, letting it drop into the simmering water, as my Swiss grandmother taught me.    

I used some Emmi  raclette cheese and some gruyere, both cheeses that melt easily.  You do want to both butter the casserole and use the bread crumbs to keep the dish from seeming too greasy.   

I sometimes make the onions before I cook this, or I use my home-canned caramelized onions which speeds up the preparation and they taste delicious.         

 Käsespätzle  (Cheese Spätzle With Fried Onions)

                        Onions

  2         teaspoons  Olive Oil

  1         teaspoon  Butter

  2         medium  Onion -- quartered and sliced

                        Batter

  1         cup  Flour, All-purpose -- (4 1/2 oz)

     ½     teaspoon  Salt

  2         large  Eggs -- beaten 

  2        tablespoons  Milk 

                        Casserole

     ¼     teaspoon  Nutmeg

  4        ounces  Gruyere Cheese -- or Emmental, or Raclette

            Butter and Breadcrumbs for Dish              

1. Heat butter and oil in a small pan on medium heat, add onions and turn heat to low.  Stir every few minutes for about an hour, until lightly browned.
2. Preheat oven to 350°.  Heat a large pot of water, covered.
3. Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl.  Combine the egg and milk and add to the flour mixture.  Beat for several minutes until the batter is smooth and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.  Let rest 10 minutes and beat again.  The dough should be a lot thicker than pancake batter but not as much as bread dough.  You can't beat it too much.
4. Pour the batter onto a spätzle board or a flat plate that have been sprayed with non-stick spray or moistened with water.  Cut the noodles off in about 1/8-1/4" widths into the water.  Stir the pot so the noodles don't stick to the bottom.  They will rise to the top.  Cook an additional 3-5 minutes.  Drain well and set aside.
5. Prepare a 1 quart casserole with butter and dust with bread crumbs.  Combine the grated cheeses and nutmeg.   In the casserole, layer the noodles and cheeses in 2 or 3 layers, ending with cheese.  
6. Cover the casserole and bake 20 minutes, uncover, top with the onions.  and bake an additional 15 minutes or until bubbly.  Serve hot.

4 Servings

**Any combination of Gruyere, Emmental or Raclette cheeses may be used.

Per Serving: 323 Calories; 16g Fat (43.7% calories from fat); 16g Protein; 29g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 141mg Cholesterol; 413mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 2 Fat.