by Lucy E. Zahnle

Created on: September 27, 2009

A distant cousin of macaroni and cheese, kasespaetzle is one of those "foreign" yet somehow familiar dishes that most Americans love. However, the tastes and textures in kasespaetzle are more sophisticated than those in macaroni and cheese and hold a greater appeal to the adult palette.

Basic kasespaetzle consists of noodles in melted cheese. However, the types or mixes of cheeses selected as well as the variety of spices and herbs individual cooks may add make each version of the dish a delightful adventure. I've never met a cook who did not want to "tweak" the basic kasespaetzle recipe a little to suit his or her own tastes.

Even the recipe I am presenting has been changed a bit out of necessity. Because I am writing in rural mid-America, I have substituted cheeses that are readily available here for Emmenthaler cheese, an exotic ingredient nearly impossible to find in the wilds of Missouri.

To make kasespaetzle for eight, you will need:

one sixteen ounce package of spaetzle noodles

one teaspoon of salt

one half a shredded onion

one tablespoon of butter or margarine

four ounces of grated or chopped Swiss cheese

four ounces of grated or chopped Monterey Jack cheese

Spaetzle noodles can usually be found at ethnic or specialty food stores. Because my husband is a military reservist, we get ours at the commissary on post. If you're lucky and you live in a big city, your grocery store may carry them.

If you don't want to spend time and muscle grating the cheeses and can't find them already shredded or grated at the store, you can chop or break them into small melt-able pieces and they will work perfectly well. It all depends on how lazy you feel or how pressed for time you may be.

Once you have all your ingredients together, boil your spaetzle noodles according to package directions. The package instructions for my brand say that I should boil the noodles until they are soft, but does not provide a time. I have found that a period of twenty minutes works well.

While the noodles are boiling, in a separate pan, saute the onion in the butter or margarine. Prepare for the baking phase by preheating your oven to three hundred degrees Fahrenheit.

When the noodles are cooked, drain them and stir in the onion and butter or margarine mixture. Spread the spaetzle in a large baking dish and cover it evenly with the cheeses.

Place the kasespaetzle in the oven and bake it at three hundred degrees Fahrenheit for thirty minutes. At this point, the cheese should be completely melted. Take the kasespaetzle out of the oven and mix the noodles and the cheese well so that the melted cheese coats all the noodles. Serve the dish hot.

This is an easy, yet impressive, dish to serve to guests and my family loves it as well. Although this version may vary a little from the traditional German dish, it speaks to the hearts of German-Americans, offering a little taste of the Old Country in the New World.

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