ROMANIAN NOODLE AND PORK CASSEROLE

By MommaRode

Jason had a 6th grade class project to do on a country. At the time, Romania was big in the news. Of all the rebellions that toppled Communism in Eastern Europe over a decade ago, the bloodiest began in this provincial city where a protest by the parishioners of an obscure Calvinist pastor somehow exploded into the nationwide revolt that in nine days shoved Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu, Romania's megalomaniacal ruling couple, in front of a firing squad. If I remember correctly, Jason was the only student to choose Romania to do a country report on. He "ACED" the report with a great presentation of a video of the fall of Romania, other visuals and speech and this casserole was a big hit in the classroom. Jason found this recipe in a cookbook in the East Shore Public Library.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. fine noodles
• 1 lb. ground cooked pork
• 1 slice bread which has been soaked in milk and wrung out
• 1 minced leek
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup cream
• 1/4 cup grated cheese

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350F.
Cook noodles until slightly under-done.
Combine cooked pork, soaked bread, leek, fennel seeds, parsley, salt and pepper.

In a shallow, large baking pan, arrange alternate layers of noodles and pork mixture, ending with noodles.

Beat together the eggs, cream and grated cheese. Pour this mixture over noodles and dot with 1/4 cup butter.

Bake for about 45 minutes.