Swiss Alplermagronen: 30-Minute One-Pot Macaroni with Potato, Cheese and Apple

Melt the butter in a wide, deep skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onions and a pinch of salt and cook 15 to 18 minutes, stirring now and then, until deeply golden and sweet. Start these first and let them work while you do everything else.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 large yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 pound (450g) waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 8 ounces (225g) elbow macaroni
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 6 ounces (170g) Gruyere cheese, coarsely grated
• 2 ounces (55g) Emmental cheese, coarsely grated
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Fine sea salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened apple sauce, for serving

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a wide, deep skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onions and a pinch of salt and cook 15 to 18 minutes, stirring now and then, until deeply golden and sweet. Start these first and let them work while you do everything else.
2. Scoop the onions out with a slotted spoon and set aside on paper towels, leaving the butter behind in the pan.
3. Add the potatoes, milk and water to the same pan, season with salt, and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Cook 6 minutes.
4. Tip in the macaroni and stir well. Simmer 9 to 11 minutes more, stirring often so nothing sticks, until both the pasta and potatoes are tender and the liquid has reduced to a loose, starchy sauce.
5. Pull the pan off the heat. Add the cream, then the grated Gruyere and Emmental in three handfuls, stirring after each so the cheese melts smoothly instead of seizing into strings.
6. Season generously with nutmeg, salt and black pepper. The mixture should be loose and glossy; add a splash of hot water if it has gone stiff.
7. Scatter the fried onions over the top and serve straight from the pan, with a spoonful of cold apple sauce on the side of every plate.
8. Alplermagronen means alpine herdsman's macaroni, a dish born in Swiss mountain huts where potatoes, dried pasta, hard cheese and dried apples were the four things that kept through a season at altitude. Cooking the potatoes and pasta together in milk rather than boiling water is the whole trick, because that released starch becomes the sauce and no roux or flour is ever needed. Do not skip the apple sauce; the sweet-sour spoonful against all that cheese is the point of the dish, not a garnish.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 720 kcal
• Protein: 29g
• Fat: 38g
• Carbohydrates: 66g
• Fiber: 5g
• Sugar: 16g
• Sodium: 590mg