Homemade Mac N Cheese

Comfort Food At Its Best

 Warm up with homemade macaroni and cheese,

with just a hint of smoky flavor

and a little bite of chipotle peppers.

 

Well, now I've done it - I can never go back to the foil pouch of orange goo again!

As another kitchen challenge, I tried my hand at making homemade macaroni and cheese. Be warned; you won't want to eat it any other way. It's really fairly easy and doesn't require fancy ingredients (depending on just how fancy your mac and cheese will be) but it does take a little time, as do most things that are worth the extra effort.

 

Two things to remember to make great homemade macaroni and cheese: start with the best cheese you can get (obviously!) and slightly undercook the macaroni.

 

For the best cheese, grab a block and start shredding it by hand. No pre-packaged shredded cheese in a bag. It is coated in anti-caking agents and doesn't make the most optimal cheese sauce. Plus, shredding your own cheese is more cost-effective in the long run. For this recipe, I chose an apple and hardwood smoked Gouda cheese, and a sharp chipotle Cheddar cheese. I prefer strong, sharp flavors in macaroni and cheese but the choice of cheese is up to you.

 

Ingredients:

2 cups dry macaroni noodles

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1-1/2 cups milk (whole milk, or a very good 2% milk like Oberweis)

1 teaspoon dry mustard (Colman's)

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste

3/4 pound cheese, shredded

 

Directions:

First, cook the dry macaroni noodles. Most package cooking directions will suggest cooking for 8 to 10 minutes. To get the best results for macaroni and cheese, however, you'll want to cook the macaroni for a little less time, about 7 minutes. Otherwise, you will have mushy macaroni in the finished dish; it has to stand up to combining with the cheese sauce and baking in the oven for about half an hour. So, undercook slightly, drain and rinse with hot water. Set aside.

 

Beat the egg in a small bowl and set aside.

 

Next, make a simple roux to begin the cheese sauce. Melt butter in a large saucepan and quickly whisk in the flour until it is completely incorporated. Slowly whisk in the milk and cook, whisking constantly over medium-low heat, until the mixture has thickened. Stir in the dry mustard.

 

Add the egg by first adding 3 tablespoons of sauce to the beaten egg in the small bowl. Whisk very quickly - this is called tempering the mixture. If you were to add the egg directly to the large pan of sauce, the egg would cook almost immediately and you would have little bits of scrambled egg in your sauce. Not quite the way it's supposed to work!

And why the egg, anyway? The egg mainly serves as a binding ingredient, allowing you to more neatly cut your mac and cheese into squares. If you don't mind your mac and cheese spilling out everywhere in freeform cheesy glory on your plate, you can omit the egg.

Above: tempering the egg.

 

When the tempered egg mixture is nice and smooth, add it to the sauce. Stir in salt and freshly ground pepper. And then... stir in all that glorious shredded cheese and keep stirring until smooth and totally incorporated in the sauce. Reserve about a half of a cup for sprinkling on top of the mac and cheese before it goes in the oven.

Butter a 2 to 2.2 quart baking dish. Pour the macaroni and cheese into the dish and top with the reserved shredded cheese. You can also use dried bread crumbs or cracker crumbs, but I really just like lots of extra cheese on top. It will become nicely browned after baking in the oven!

 

Bake the macaroni and cheese uncovered in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes, then turn up the oven temperature to 375 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes to lightly brown the shredded cheese topping. It's finished when everything is bubbling hot!

Approximately 6 servings. 

 

Cheesy detail of "Better With Age" by Lonesome Road Gallery.



what the heck is haluski?!

Can't take another cod fillet during

meatless Lent Fridays?
Try hearty Polish Haluski!

Before I worked for a newspaper that serves a city with a large central European population, I had never heard of haluski. Ever.

A little snooping around revealed to me that this traditional Polish-Slovakian cabbage dish was very similar to something my mother used to make and I decided to give it a try.

The dish makes a great vegetarian main dish (perfect for Lent) or you can sneak in a bit of bacon on your carnivorous days (as shown in the photo). Using homemade egg noodles makes all the difference in the world but if you're short on time, use good-quality store-bought noodles (like I did). And, if you want to add more protein to this dish, try what others do: stir in some cottage cheese.

ingredients:

• 1 medium head of cabbage, cored and either shredded or cut into strips
• 2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter (you may need more)
• 8 ounces cooked egg noodles, either homemade or store-bought
• salt and pepper to taste

Begin by heating butter in a large saute pan or large deep skillet until lightly browned; this is one of the tasty tricks of cooking haluski. Add chopped onion and cook until translucent and slightly browned. Add shredded cabbage and saute for 5 more minutes, tossing thoroughly with the browned butter-onion mixture. Cover and cook another 5 to 10 minutes then add the cooked noodles. Combine everything thoroughly, add a bit more butter if the mixture seems "dry" and cook over low heat, stirring, until noodles are heated through. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Makes 6 servings.

Another tasty addition to haluski is caraway seeds; add them just before covering and cooking the cabbage-onion mixture.

Some people substitute rinsed sauerkraut for the shredded cabbage; I have not tried this version but I think I could learn to love it.

Can't get enough cabbage? Check out:

Cabbage Hash

and Chet Atkins' Cole Slaw

lent-ils!

Meatless Fridays ~
A great time to try something new!
Although the Lonesome Road doesn't observe Lenten practices, the customs and rituals of others always inspires me to try (and share) new recipes. This is one that really has become a tried-and-true favorite. Simple, inexpensive, healthy and so delicious, the Middle Eastern dish Mujadara is easily made with lentils, rice and lots and lots of caramelized onion slices. This is truly a great choice for meatless Fridays during Lent but don't be surprised if you incorporate this dish into your rotation.

Start out by sauteeing in a large, deep skillet:
2 medium onions, sliced
in 6 tablespoons of olive oil.
Cook onions until they are deeply brown and caramelized, even a bit "crunchy." Remove the onions to a paper towel-lined plate.

Add 1 cup of long-grain rice (I love to use jasmine rice) and 1 cup of lentils to the skillet. Quickly saute the rice and lentils in the caramelized onion oil, adding
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt
freshly ground black pepper

Add 3 cups of water to the rice-lentil mixture and bring to a boil. Cover the skillet very tightly then cook over low heat for at least 25 to 30 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice and lentils are tender.

To serve, top with the crispy browned onions.
Serves 4.
(Although lentils typically do not require soaking in water, I've found that a 1 or 2 hour soaking before preparing this dish helps the lentils cook in exactly the same amount of time as the rice, without becoming mushy.)

Can't get enough bean recipes for meatless Lent Fridays?

Check out these Cuban Black Beans!