Easy as ABC Monday: M is for Macaroni and Cheese
I love macaroni and cheese, especially the real kind. I like the stuff in a box too, especially Annie’s brand, but the real stuff, baked in the oven is superior. I’ve fiddled with a number of recipes over the years and found two that have stuck out. The first is Patti Labelle’s insanely decadent Over the Rainbow Macaroni and Cheese. This stuff is the real deal, the mac and cheese of legend. The recipe calls for a stick of butter, five kinds of cheese, eggs and some seasoning. There’s no milk, no flour, no breadcrumbs. It’s insanely good, but since I’ve become more aware of what I eat, it’s hard to justify buying processed cheese food like Velveeta when other recipes exist. If you don’t have similar qualms, run out for the ingredients right now and bake this mac and cheese. It’s worth every calorie.
If you do have similar issues about strange orange cheeselike substances, skip Patti Labelle’s heart attack in a greased casserole dish, and give this recipe from the New York Times a go. This is also the real deal, pasta and cheese mixed to perfection using a ratio of 2:1 cheese to pasta. I love the recipe because you don’t have to precook the pasta- it cooks perfectly in the oven. I’ve made it several times now and each time people have raved about it. Yesterday I made a double batch for Sam’s birthday party. I got distracted and left it in the oven for 20 minutes too long, alerted to my mistake only by the heavenly smell of cheese wafting through the house. It wasn’t as creamy as it is ordinarily, but the extra 20 minutes produced a nice brown crust all over. Overdone or not, it was still fantastic.
Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup cottage cheese (not lowfat)
2 cups milk (not skim)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
Pinch cayenne
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound sharp or extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated
½ pound elbow pasta, uncooked.
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees and position an oven rack in upper third of oven. Use 1 tablespoon butter to butter a 9-inch round or square baking pan.
2. In a blender, purée cottage cheese, milk, mustard, cayenne, nutmeg and salt and pepper together. Reserve ¼ cup grated cheese for topping. In a large bowl, combine remaining grated cheese, milk mixture and uncooked pasta. Pour into prepared pan, cover tightly with foil and bake 30 minutes.
3. Uncover pan, stir gently, sprinkle with reserved cheese and dot with remaining tablespoon butter. Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes more, until browned. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.
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March 10th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I skipped almost everything in favor of the Mac and Cheese. It was fantastic! The Golden Brown part was perfect. Not over done for me, I liked it. More please.
Uh huh Easy Mac