Macaroni and Cheese

Dearest Isabella,

For years and I couldn't even stand to look at macaroni and cheese.  Your grandparents had very active social lives when I was growing up.  The standard go-to meal when they were going to leave us with a sitter was macaroni and cheese.  I don't know how many of those yellow and blue boxes we went through, but I'm convinced my parents should have bought stock in that company. 

I reconsidered the idea of macaroni and cheese only because I was trying to come up with meatless options for dinner a couple of times a week. This macaroni and cheese was a huge factor in my macaroni and cheese rehabilitation.  I developed it after making a few alterations to an already quick and delicious recipe found on the Simply Recipes website.

One of the changes I made to the original recipe, was to add cream cheese.  This not only made the macaroni and cheese, tangier, smoother, and creamier, but it also made cleaning the pots afterwards a lot easier.

Finally, the special version of this recipe has a crispy, cheesy crust of bread crumbs, parmigiano reggiano, and olive oil. This was a great way to use up all the bread crusts that your brother made me cut off his sandwiches.  Every time I prepared toast or sandwiches for him,  I would just throw the crusts into a plastic bag in the freezer.  Then, when I needed bread crumbs, I would just empty the bag into my food processor.

Love,

M.

P. S. I experimented with fancy cheese like emmenthaler (emmentaler) and gruyere, but I found that plain ole' cheddar was the favorite. But when you are older, try different cheeses.

Here's What You Will Need:

2 quarts of water
kosher salt
1/2 a pound of whole wheat rotelle, bow-ties, or elbow macaroni
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 a pound of Extra, Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, grated
2 ounces of cream cheese
2 teaspoons of flour
juice of half a lemon, or more
1 cup of whole milk
freshly grated nutmeg
fresh bread crumbs
extra virgin olive oil
parmigiano reggiano
black pepper

Here's What You Need to Do:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Fill stockpot or large saucepan with 2 quarts of water.  Bring to a boil.  Add kosher salt until water is pleasantly salty.  Add your pasta, stirring frequently in the beginning so that pasta does not stick together.  Cook for about 9 minutes.  Drain and return to stockpot/saucepan.

While pasta is cooking, mix 1 tsp of flour with your grated cheese and toss.  Set aside.  Meanwhile, melt your butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Whisk in the remaining 2 teaspoons of flour.  Cook flour in butter for a few minutes to cook out raw flour taste, 2-3 minutes.  This is called a "rue".  You do not want to develop any color on the rue, so adjust your heat if needed.  Slowly whisk in your milk until smooth.  Put your whisk away to soak now! Turn off heat and add cheddar cheese and cream cheese.  Stir with spatula until smooth.  Grate nutmeg (about a 1/2 teaspoon) into cheese mixture.  Add pepper, and lemon juice.  Stir, taste, and add more nutmeg, pepper, lemon juice, or salt to satisy your taste.

Add your sauce to pasta, stir until combined.  You can enjoy this pasta here, or you can proceed to make it extra yummy.

Butter a glass pan.  I used my small Corningware dish.  Pour your macaroni and cheese into dish.  Sprinkle with fresh breadcrumbs to cover top of macaroni and cheese. Grate some parmigiano reggiano to lightly cover the top of the bread crumbs.  Lightly drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.  Bake in oven for 15 minutes, until topping is lightly browned and crispy.  Enjoy immediately.

This makes about 4 servings.