Spinach Egg Noodle Casserole: Rachael Ray..... Again

Yep, it's another recipe from Everyday With Rachael Ray. I got October and November issues in the same week and chose a recipe from each. This one is from the November 2010, issue.

I'm on the fence with this one. Was it bad? No. Was it spectacular? No. Unfortunately, I sort of consider this recipe an over complicated, under flavored version of macaroni and cheese. The spinach is a great addition and I really liked using a cheese other than cheddar. It just wasn't enough.

One reason I wanted to try this casserole is because it wasn't creamy like a mac & cheese. I had hoped that the lack of sauce would provide comfort food flavor without some of the fat and calories. Regardless, it may be the method rather than the ingredients that caused some of the blandness. In all fairness, though, I did not add the 'freshly grated nutmeg' that was noted (without any indication of quantity) because I don't really like nutmeg in savory dishes.

The original recipe called for 100% of the cheese and bread crumb mixture to be sprinkled on the top. I'm so glad I didn't do that or the entire casserole would have been basically tasteless. The amount of noodles is just plain too much in comparison to the other ingredients. I wouldn't go over 12 ounces at the most if making it again.

Ok, ok enough bitching about the recipe. Here it is with my changes in parenthesis:

2 10 oz packages of frozen spinach
1 lb extra wide egg noodles
1 Tbsp olive oil (I needed about 3 by the time I added spinach)
1 medium onion (I used 1 baseball sized)
2 cloves garlic (I used 3)
3 Tbsp butter (I added a Tbsp to the spinach when heating with the onion & garlic, so 4 Tbsp for me)
2 rounded Tbsp flour (I used about 2 ½)
Salt & pepper to taste
¼ tspn dry mustard (not in original recipe)
2 cups whole milk (2 ¼ cups of 2% milk)
freshly grated nutmeg (Didn't use)
2 egg yolks
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 cup gruyere cheese ($19.99 per lb! I used a smoked swiss/cheddar mix)
½ cup parmigiano-reggiano cheese (I used a shredded mix of Parmesan, Asiago and Romano)

Defrost spinach in the microwave and drain well. Cook the onion and garlic in a skillet with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the spinach and heat through. At this point I needed to add another tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of butter because the pan was bone dry. Boil the pasta in a large pot until al dente. Drain and return to the pot. To keep the noodles from drying out, I added the onion & spinach mixture now and mixed lightly.



Now for the sauce, it's a basic roux with an egg yolk mixture ? Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. When melted add the flour, salt, pepper and dry mustard. Whisk together for about 1 minute, until smooth and bubbly. Add the milk and stir until thickened, about 5 minutes.

Put the egg yolks in a small bowl and whisk in a small amount of the sauce. I use a ¼ cup and start slowly. Once the eggs have been tempered with the ¼ cup of sauce, whisk the egg mixture into the sauce in the pan and turn to low.



Mix the cheese and panko breadcrumbs together. I used my hands and worked them together so the cheese stuck to the breadcrumbs. Work ¾ of the mixture into the spinach and noodles. Add the sauce and mix well. Pour into a casserole dish that has been prepared with a light coating of non-stick spray. Top with remaining breadcrumbs and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.



FYI ? The original recipe suggested broiling the casserole for 3 to 5 minutes only. This just didn't seem feasible to me as the noodles and spinach were already cooling down a lot.


What I would do different next time:
Reduce the quantity of noodles to 12 oz.Cook the spinach in the microwave, not just defrostDitch the egg yolks - Why add the calories without any value?
Add the cheese directly to the sauce ? once it is thickened remove from heat and add the cheeseUse that extra tablespoon of butter originally needed for the spinach to toast the breadcrumbs in a skilletMix everything together except ¼ of the toasted breadcrumbs and use them for topping

Just for laughs ? In the magazine it suggests that you divide this recipe into 12 individual muffin cups for a cute Thanksgiving presentation. Hmmmm......here's how much there was before I sort of packed in into the casserole dish. Really?! How many muffin cups?