Chef Joost
Aardappelschotel met Gehakt
A plain name for a quietly clever dish: fresh mince, sweet fried onion, nutmeg, and mashed potato baked until the top goes golden and the table goes silent.
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Macaroni met Ham en Kaas
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The macaroni dish Dutch children met before they met Italy: ham, cheese sauce, and a breadcrumb lid, baked into the weeknight ovenschotel that never pretended to be Roman.
Main Dishes
Dutch
Weeknight
Budget Friendly
Comfort Food
20 min
Active Time
35 min cook•55 min total
Yield4 servings
In my grandmother's second notebook, between the pea soup and the apple pancakes, there is a page with no romance in the title: macaroni met ham en kaas, macaroni with ham and cheese. Not an old Zeeland dish from the tide flats, not a feast-day relic, not a word smuggled in by exiles. Just supper. But let me tell you a secret: the Dutch family table keeps its history in exactly these plain-looking dishes.
Macaroni came to Dutch cupboards as dried pasta, long before most households had any serious knowledge of Italian regional cooking. By the late twentieth century it had become something thoroughly domestic: boiled short pasta, cubes of ham, a mild kaassaus, cheese sauce, and a crisp lid from breadcrumbs or beschuit, Dutch rusks, crushed under the palm. This is not American mac and cheese. It is leaner, quieter, and usually carries ham, because a Dutch cook sees a little leftover meat and immediately gives it a second profession.
The method matters because the dish is simple enough to punish laziness. Cook the pasta just shy of done, or the oven will finish it into softness. Make a real roux, not a gluey shortcut, because flour cooked in butter becomes silk while raw flour tastes like school paste (for obvious reasons, nobody asks for seconds of that). Then bake it until the top is golden and the sauce has found every hollow in the macaroni. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple, but simple is not the same as careless.
Dried macaroni was known in the Netherlands by the nineteenth century, but dishes like macaroni met ham en kaas became common household fare after the Second World War, when packaged pasta, factory cheese, and convenience-minded family cookery reshaped weeknight meals. Dutch manufacturers such as Honig helped normalize macaroni as a pantry staple in the mid-twentieth century, often paired with ham, cheese, or tomato-based sauces in home economics cookbooks and packet recipes. The baked ovenschotel version reflects a Dutch thrift pattern: yesterday's ham, grated cheese, and breadcrumbs turned into a filling family dish under a crisp oven lid.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
short macaroni or elbow pasta
Quantity
300g
cooked ham
Quantity
200g
diced
butter
Quantity
60g, plus more for the dish
plain flour
Quantity
60g
whole milk
Quantity
750ml
warmed
Dijon or Dutch mustard
Quantity
1 teaspoon
freshly grated nutmeg
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
young Gouda
Quantity
200g
grated
mature Gouda
Quantity
50g
grated, for the top
breadcrumbs or beschuit
Quantity
50g or 3 rusks
crushed
salt and black pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| short macaroni or elbow pasta | 300g |
| cooked hamdiced | 200g |
| butter | 60g, plus more for the dish |
| plain flour | 60g |
| whole milkwarmed | 750ml |
| Dijon or Dutch mustard | 1 teaspoon |
| freshly grated nutmeg | 1/4 teaspoon |
| young Goudagrated | 200g |
| mature Goudagrated, for the top | 50g |
| breadcrumbs or beschuitcrushed | 50g or 3 rusks |
| salt and black pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Medium baking dish, about 2 liters
- •Large saucepan
- •Whisk
- •Large pot for boiling pasta
Instructions
- 1
Cook the macaroni
Heat the oven to 200C and butter a medium baking dish. Boil the macaroni in well-salted water for two minutes less than the packet says, then drain it. It should still have a little bite at the centre; the oven will finish the work, and pasta that goes in soft comes out apologizing.
- 2
Make the roux
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stir in the flour, and cook for two minutes, stirring steadily, until it smells gently nutty and no longer raw. This small pause is what separates a cheese sauce from wallpaper paste. Add the warm milk a little at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition.
- 3
Finish the sauce
Let the sauce simmer quietly for three to four minutes until it coats the back of a spoon. Stir in the mustard, nutmeg, black pepper, and most of the young Gouda, saving a handful for the top if you like a generous crust. Taste before salting; ham and cheese have already been doing some of that work for you.
Use young Gouda for melting and a little mature Gouda for flavour. Only mature cheese can turn grainy in a sauce, which is why Dutch thrift, once again, is also good engineering. - 4
Fold and fill
Fold the drained macaroni and diced ham through the sauce until every hollow is coated. Spoon it into the buttered dish, keeping the surface level rather than packed down. A loose dish bakes creamy; a compressed one bakes like a brick, and we have enough masonry in the Low Countries.
- 5
Add the lid
Mix the breadcrumbs or crushed beschuit with the mature Gouda and scatter them evenly over the top. Bake for twenty to twenty-five minutes, until the edges are bubbling thickly and the lid is golden, crisp, and freckled with browned cheese. Let it stand for five minutes before serving so the sauce settles back into the pasta.
Chef Tips
- •Leftover ham is welcome here. A thick slice from the butcher is better than thin sandwich ham, because it keeps its shape and gives the fork something honest to find.
- •Nutmeg belongs in the cheese sauce, quietly. The Dutch used spice in everyday food long after the VOC cargoes made it familiar, and a small grating wakes the milk and cheese without announcing itself.
- •Beschuit, Dutch rusk, makes a very good crust when crushed fine. Breadcrumbs are simpler to find, but beschuit gives the old school-table crunch many Dutch cooks remember.
Advance Preparation
- •Assemble the dish up to one day ahead, cover, and refrigerate. Add the breadcrumb lid just before baking so it stays crisp.
- •Leftovers keep for three days refrigerated. Reheat covered at 180C until hot through, then uncover briefly to refresh the top.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 475g)
Calories
910 calories
Total Fat
41 g
Saturated Fat
24 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
14 g
Cholesterol
150 mg
Sodium
1600 mg
Total Carbohydrates
88 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
14 g
Protein
45 g
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