Delicious But Not So Pretty

I can't find a way to make macaroni and cheese pretty. I thought about sprinkling on some parsley and a different baking dish certainly wouldn't hurt, but unless you use a neon orange cheddar (which I rarely do) it's kind of a beige dish. I have to rely on my homemade cheese sauce -- brimming with swiss, gouda and parmesan in this version -- tender noodles and crispy breadcrumb topping to bring James to the table. I know they say we eat with our eyes, but James had 3 helpings so I guess I've warded off the old saying for one more day.

The Crock Pot Strikes Again

Another night another crock pot dish. Things have been pretty busy around here and with no oven it's nice to get dinner sorted early in the day and just have to wait for it to cook.
There are many slow cooker macaroni and cheese recipes out there but most call for cooking the noodles first. If I'm going to do that I might as well just stir up the sauce too. Part of the appeal of the crock pot is very few dishes to clean. A one pot cooker. Hence the popularity.
So I forged boldly ahead and dumped uncooked macaroni -- I used Italian Gemelli (8 oz) instead of more popular elbows, 1 can condensed milk, 1 1/2 cups milk, 2 eggs (beaten and mixed with the milked), S&P, and grated cheese -- lots of grated cheese.  I used about 3 1/2 cups of cheese mixed into the pasta and then sprinkled the rest on top. Cooking on low keeps the egg custard from separating while the noodles simmer to cheesy tenderness.
I love my crock pot.

Sort Of Macaroni And Cheese

In between rushing through the kitchen cooking up dishes for the freezer to keep James fed while I'm away, James walked in and looking happily into a pot of pasta and chard fresh from our garden he said," Is this dinner?"
Well no, it wasn't supposed to be. But, I quickly changed course and headed the collards beans and sausage dish I was stirring towards the freezer and whipped up a quick white sauce -- a very cheesy white sauce. I didn't have quite enough milk for all that pasta so I thinned the sauce with some of the pasta cooking water which gave this decidedly rich dish a deceptively light feel. Chard, pasta, cheese, sausage and a little time in the oven for dinnertime magic. And and a couple for the freezer too.

Freezer Food: Kitchen Convenience

When I have an ingredient in the fridge teetering towards past it's prime and no immediate ideas for a dinner to use it up (or it's already made enough appearances to almost be recognizable) I whip something up for the freezer. Buttermilk becomes freezer trays full of biscuits ready for baking or marinates chicken pieces seasoned and stored for a future dinner. Milk threatening to go sour becomes a batch of gorgères for impromptu appetizers. Stone fruits are sliced into pies and tarts ready to bake for unexpected dinner company. In this case, the last of the creme fraiche (and sautéed beet greens) was stirred into the cheese sauce of this freezer filling macaroni and cheese. A couple months back I made two pans of this surprisingly light macaroni and cheese. We had one for dinner and the other waited for a night like tonight.

Wolfgang's Mac N' Cheese

Not too long ago the Williams Sonoma catalogue featured a selection of sides recipes from famous steakhouses. I was laying in bed perusing the latest collection of things I don't need when a recipe for the macaroni and cheese from Wolfgang Puck's very expensive and highly lauded Beverly Hills steakhouse Cut. Mostly I stopped to look because the recipe called for creme fraiche and I happened to have too much in the fridge -- I love a fridge cleaning recipe.

I whisked up a roux added milk and simmered it slowly with bay leaves for flavor. I whisked in the creme fraiche and grated cheese, tossed the pasta in the sauce and layered it in a baking dish with more grated cheese (WP called for mozzarella and cheddar I took the liberty of using what we had and opted for peppered cheddar, taleggio, and parmesan cheeses). The dish was topped with more grated cheese and bread crumbs.

I made two pans of this new recipe mac n' cheese and popped them in the freezer to pull out and bake on a late night like tonight. Makes good leftovers too.