Mac & Cheese Tips:
Choose a good curvy noodle. Thin noodles will not grab the cheese sauce. Boil plenty of water, add some salt and noodles and stir. Cook noodles to al dente, then shock in cold water to end the cooking process. They continue to soften in the cheese sauce; you don’t want them to go mushy.
Decide if you want your mac regular or baked. Baking it just turns it really creamy inside and a bit crispy on top. Bake your mac & cheese at 4000 for 10 -15 mins, with or without breadcrumbs.
If you want to put breadcrumbs on top, Panko is best. It remains crunchy! Toast them in the oven first on a cookie sheet until golden brown, as they don’t toast during the mac baking process.
Choose your cheeses and add ins – I’ve had great success with expensive aged cheeses and a regular cheddar brick. Some of the best add ins are:
- Chicken
- Spinach
- Mushrooms
- Broccoli
- Tuna
- Sriracha
- Bacon
- Hot dogs
- Sausage
- Artichoke hearts
- Roasted butternut squash
- Asparagus
- Garlic
Start with a basic béchamel sauce -
Béchamel Sauce (Mac sauce)
- 3 c whole milk
- ½ c unsalted butter
- ½ c all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp kosher salt (if using table salt always halve the amount asked for in kosher salt)
Heat milk over medium heat until it starts to bubble, remove from heat. (Do not scorch!)
Melt butter in separate sauce pan over medium heat. When melted, add flour and whisk constantly until the mixture begins to brown, 3 to 4 mins.
Slowly add the warm milk into the butter mixture while whisking constantly. Once all milk is in, set pan back on medium-high heat and continue to whisk for a couple of minutes until the sauce thickens and becomes silky smooth. Take off heat and add the salt.
Classic Mac & Chesse
½ lb dry pasta
2 c mac sauce
1 ½ c cheddar cheese (Can go extra sharp or aged if you’d like)
½ c grated pecorino romano cheese
Add cheese to the sauce and melt over medium heat until barely melted. Stir in noodles and continue cooking until pasta is hot. If you’d like to bake
Garlic Mac
4 lg garlic cloves minced
3 tbsp unsalted butter
½ lb dry pasta
2 c mac sauce
1 ½ c grated gouda
½ c grated pecorino romano
Combine garlic and butter. Cook pasta. Add sauce, cheeses and garlic butter in heavy bottomed pot and cook over medium heat stirring until cheese is barely melted. Add pasta and continue cooking until pasta is hot.
Greek Mac
½ lb dry pasta
1 c crumbled feta
½ c grated jack cheese
½ c grated pecorino cheese
2 tsp minced shallots
½ c thawed from frozen chopped spinach, drained
½ c artichoke hearts
2 c mac sauce
½ c panko crumbs
Cook pasta, heat oven to 4000. Add cheeses and spinach and artichokes and stir until cheeses begin to melt. The feta will remain lumpy. Add cooked noodles, stir until hot and pour into baking dish and top with panko. Bake until bubbly, about 10-15 mins.
Spicy Mac
½ dry pasta
2 c mac sauce
2 c grated pepper jack
2 tsp pepper flakes
Kosher salt to taste
Add cheeses to sauce, melt and stir in noo
Gluten Free
Substitute quinoa pasta and tapioca flour where called for pasta and flour.
Roasted Veggies
Wash and cut out the stems of Brussel sprouts (that is where brussels can be bitter) and cut in half. Wash baby carrots or cut full carrots into 1 inch pieces. Place on a large baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper.
Roast in a 400o oven until tender but not mushy, usually about 20 mins.
*Tasty addition to the brussels - toss them in a bacon vinaigrette dressing.
Cook ½ lb bacon until crispy. Use ½ c or less of bacon fat, ¼ c cider vinegar and 2 tbsp shallots. Top with bacon bits. SUPER YUMMY!
Citrus Salad
Layer salad greens like Romaine, sliced oranges, sliced avocado, and soaked shallots
Soaked shallots
¼ c red wine vinegar
¼ c apple cider vinegar
¼ c sugar
3 shallots, thinly sliced
Peel shallots, slice very thin. Mix thoroughly the vinegars and sugar (I like to use my immersion blender to make sure the sugar is distributed well.) Let the shallots soak in the vinaigrette for at least an hour in the fridge so they pick up the flavor. Then layer on top of salad, drizzle whole salad lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and cracked pepper.
Crème Brulee
Buy the boxed mix! So easy and creamy, all you need is whipping cream and the mix.
