Enjoy this traditional Bavarian comfort food covered in cheesy, caramelized onions

Have you ever heard of Käsespätzle? I hadn’t, so when I saw it as a menu choice during a recent visit to Bavaria, I wasn’t interested at first. But then I remembered Käse is the German word for cheese and looked more closely. I am so glad I did!

Käsespätzle, pronounced “kays-spatz l,” is a Bavarian dish containing nubby spaetzle noodles combined with caramelized onions, enrobed in gooey cheese, and then topped with even more cheese and fried shallots. I had trouble finding the words to express how delicious this was, but I knew I had to try making it myself. Lucky for my family, and maybe yours too, the recipe was a success. I’m happy to share it with you.

As a child, my mom never purchased mac-n-cheese kits; ours was always homemade and made with American cheese and lots of it. As I started investigating actual recipes, I noticed they most frequently called for other types of cheese like Gruyere or Emmental, so when I saw these cheeses also listed as ingredients on most recipes for Käsespätzle, I realized re-creating this recipe was within my reach.

I was lucky enough to try three different versions of this dish, but the best was from a booth at the Schönbrunn Christmas Market in Vienna. I shared it with two friends, and we agreed we liked it the most because it was the cheesiest. So I knew no matter what recipe I made, it had to have a lot of cheese.

After comparing several online recipes, I landed on one that also included a recipe for homemade spätzle. But is it spelled spätzle or spaetzle?

I will be honest: spätzle is a tough word for me. I’ve heard it pronounced and spelled differently, so to help all of us, I thought I would share what I found while researching this topic: My handy “Food Lover’s Companion” included three different pronunciations – SHPEHT-sluh, SHPEHT-sehl and SHPEHT-slee – and added the word is translated from German as “little sparrow,” for the shape of the noodles. I also found this reference on Carolinaspaetzle.com about spelling: In German, the noodles are called Spätzle and are spelled with the German Umlaut (ä), a letter that doesn’t exist in English, and the word is always capitalized, as all German nouns are. When umlauts are Anglicized (or Americanized), the umlaut is replaced with an “e,” so spaetzle is a correct, too.

The ingredient list is short: Flour, eggs, milk and salt. Typical pasta ingredients, but it is how spaetzle is made that sets it apart from traditional noodles. The pancake batter-like combination is pressed through holes in a spaetzle maker and dropped directly into salted boiling water, where they cook for about three minutes before being removed to a platter.

I don’t own a spaetzle maker, so I improvised using a colander with holes slightly smaller than a pencil eraser. This worked OK, but I found my batter wasn’t making it through the holes before it was cooking on the colander and clogging the holes, so I added a tablespoon of milk and solved my problem.

I also tried a nontraditional method by filling a zip-top plastic bag with the batter and then cutting a small hole in the corner of the bag, resulting in a ¼-inch hole that I pressed the batter through directly into the boiling salted water. While this resulted in slightly longer noodles, I found as I stirred them, they broke into pieces similar in size to the other method, so use the method that works best for you.

Of course, if you have a favorite spaetzle recipe or packaged variety, feel free to use it instead. The key is not to overcook the noodles, as you want them to have a slight chew.

For me, the best part of French Onion Soup is the bite of gooey cheese and onions you get after artfully gathering them on your spoon. The flavor of that bite is similar to this dish.

Onions are caramelized in butter, which requires some patience but can be done beforehand. Next, not just one, but two kinds of cheese typically used in fondue, Gruyere and Emmental, are combined with the onions and spaetzle that have been pan-fried in a little butter until they start to brown. It was hard to resist the urge not to eat it at this point, but I knew there would be yet more cheese sprinkled on top before the whole thing was put in the oven to brown a little. The best part of this step was the crunchy pieces of cheesy noodles that formed around the edges — my favorite.

If this weren’t enough, thinly sliced shallots are quickly fried and sprinkled on top after it comes out of the oven. Yes, I think you could use the canned variety of crispy onions if you like. But it wasn’t hard to make the shallots. I did burn my first batch though, so watch them closely.

Some of you may not be onion fans, so it is OK to leave them out. But if you’ve never had your onions caramelized, make half a recipe with the onions and half without. Onions become sweet and lose their sharp taste and smell when caramelized, so you never know — you might like it.

I hope you enjoy this rich and comforting souvenir from my trip. I know I will be making it again soon.

• Penny Kazmier, a wife and mother of four from South Barrington, won the 2011 Daily Herald Cook of the Week Challenge. Contact Penny at DhCulinaryAdventures@gmail.com.

Käsespätzle (Cheesy Spaetzle With Caramelized Onions and Crispy Shallots)

Caramelized Onions:

2 tablespoons butter

1 large yellow onion, cut in half and sliced very thin

¼ teaspoon salt

Crispy Shallots:

1/2 cup shallots, sliced very thin (about 2 shallots)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Späetzle:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter

4-6 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese

4-6 ounces shredded Emmental cheese

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Caramelize the onions: In a small sauce pot, melt 2 tablespoons of butter on medium heat. When the butter is melted, reduce the heat to low and add the onions and salt. Cook, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until deep golden and caramelized. This will take about 20 minutes.

Crispy shallots: Heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots, stirring constantly until deep golden. Quickly remove and place onto paper towels and sprinkle with a little salt.

Späetzle: Fill a 4-quart pot with water and 1 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and milk until combined. Add the salt and flour; whisk until smooth. (Mixture should resemble pancake batter.) If the mixture seems too thick or thin, adjust by adding milk and/or flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Once the water is boiling, press approximately ¼ of the batter through the holes of a colander or späetzle maker* into boiling water. Stir and allow the späetzle to float to the top, cooking three to four minutes in the boiling water. Remove and drain the späetzle with a slotted spoon and place on a plate or in a shallow bowl. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Putting it all together: Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a cast-iron (or other heavy-bottomed, oven-safe) skillet over medium-low heat. Add the späetzle and sauté until they begin to brown slightly. (If you do not have an oven-safe skillet, feel free to transfer them to a greased baking dish instead.) Remove from the heat and stir in 2/3 of the shredded cheese, black pepper and caramelized onions. Top with the remaining cheese and bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until bubbly and golden. Top with crispy shallots and serve.

*This didn’t work well for me, so I placed the batter in a large zip-top bag and made a small snip in one of the corners. Squeeze the batter into the boiling water, ¼ of the batch at a time, moving the batter from side to side across the top of the pan. Stir well, in order to break up any long strands. Continue to cook as directed above.

Serves 6-8 as a side dish, or 4 as an entree.

― Penny Kazmier