Austrian Baked Ham, Cheese, and Noodle Casserole
The real name for this delicious baked pasta dish is Schinkenfleckerl, but since it's hard to pronounce we'll call it an Austrian ham, cheese, and noodle casserole. This dish is like macaroni-and-cheese's more sophisticated European cousin, and since it's pretty rich it's usually just served with a green salad on the side. Schinken is ham and Fleckerl are little square-ish egg noodles that are common in Austrian and German cuisine, but we use regular wide egg noodles or even broken up pieces of egg pappardelle noodle.
Despite the inclusion of ingredients like sour cream (which both my kids swear up and down they don't like) everyone thought this was delicious! This recipe is really easy to put together, and it makes quite a bit so you'll probably have plenty of leftovers for another meal.
Ingredients
- 12 ounces egg noodles
- 1/2 pound smoked ham, diced
- 1/2 pound Emmentaler or Swiss cheese, grated
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup sour cream
- 3 eggs (2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg)
- 1 tablespoon minced parsley
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions
Preheat oven to 400ºF. Cook noodles according to package directions.
While noodles are cooking melt butter in a skillet and sauté onions until soft and translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes or so. In a small bowl, lightly beat eggs.
In a large bowl, stir together ham, cheese, eggs, sour cream, parsley, and onions. Add cooked and drained noodles and mix until noodles are coated and all ingredients are throughly combined.
Pour noodle mixture into a 10-inch casserole dish and bake for 15–20 minutes or until top is lightly browned and casserole is bubbly.
Let cool at least 10 minutes, then cut Schinkenfleckerl into squares and serve with a simply dressed green salad on the side.
