Reubens have always been a long time favorite of mine. Many places which I have tried them at are not very good, each company tends to make them just slightly a bit different than others. I really like to mix the thousand island with the sauerkraut and then apply it to the sandwhich. I know it doesnt sould like a huge difference but I notice a change in flavor.
Anyways, this dish definitely ranked highly in my book for reubens and I am a hard person to please when it comes to reubens.
Ingredients
- 6 slices rye bread (dark or light) divided use
- 1 pound thinly sliced pastrami or corned beef divided use
- 1 14.5 oz can or jar sauerkraut drained well
- 4 cups shredded Swiss cheese divided use
- 2 tsp caraway seeds divided use
- 1 cup chopped dill pickles
- 1 cup milk
- 3 large eggs beaten
- ⅓ cup thousand island dressing
- ¼ cup mustard
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 350 f degrees. Spray 11×7 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Take four slices of rye bread and cut them into 2-inch cubes.
- Place remaining slices of rye bread into food processor and pulse into fine breadcrumbs and set aside.
- Spread cubed bread into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
- Cover evenly with half of the pastrami.
- Then evenly top with drained sauerkraut, chopped pickles and 1 tsp. caraway seeds.
- Sprinkle 2 cups of shredded Swiss cheese on top of sauerkraut layer.
- Next, top with remaining pastrami. I gently push down to help compact it all a bit.
- Sprinkle remaining 2 cups Swiss cheese and 1 tsp. caraway seeds on top of pastrami.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, thousand island dressing and mustard.
- Pour mixture evenly over the casserole.
- Top with breadcrumbs.
- Cover with foil.
- Bake for 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven, let rest for 5 minutes then slice and serve
