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“Mac & Cheese – All Grown Up!”

Mac & Cheese - it’s a classic combo that never ceases to satisfy diners of every age. Beyond the orange-colored, not-quite-cheese powder versions, there’s actually real macaroni and cheese readily available in your kitchen!

IN THIS ISSUE, we up the ante on this traditional, comfort food with some appetizing explorations on the authentic fare. They’re nearly as easy as “boxed versions,” but infinitely more delicious and satisfying. Join us as we take some delish dishes from the oven to the table.

Pasta + Cheese + Sauce = Delicious!

The prospects are endless! Varied pasta shapes, diverse cheeses, and simple sauces mixed in different combinations can change the personality of macaroni and cheese to suit every taste and occasion. Far, from the boxed versions that have surreptitiously overtaken the genre since they arrived on shelves in 1937, our macaroni and cheese recommendations make “Mac & Cheese” worth rediscovering.

RECIPE: Alpine Macaroni and Appenzeller with Crème Fraîche

When this simple combination of pasta, sauce and cheese was served, swooning could be heard around the table. Thanks to the Appenzeller cheese – a very refined and smooth member of the Swiss family – this pasta dish yielded delightful spoonful after spoonful. It’s the perfect place to begin a more sophisticated understanding of Mac & Cheese.

Recipes from Macaroni & Cheese by Marlena Spieler. Copyright © 2006. Reprinted with permission of Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA. All rights reserved.

Mac & Cheese Essentials for this Recipe:
All Clad 4 Qt. Saucepan - Stainless steel, tri-ply construction for quick, even heating on the bottom and up the sides. New, ergonomic handle for easy handling.

Microplane Box Grater - From the people who know how to grate! Four-sides for four grated sizes. Comfortable top grip and cushioned feet to protect surfaces.
Collapsible Colander - Drain pasta, vegetables and more through this colander. Eliminate bulky storage with its clever ability to collapse. Non-metal for stay cool handling.

Preparing Perfect Pasta

Macaroni is a rather generic term nearly synonymous with pasta. For macaroni and cheese, three-dimensional shapes seem to work best for fusing with cheesy sauces. Choose from the long-time classics, elbows or shells, or some of our favorites, penne, rigatoni, fusilli, or gemelli.

Semolina, a yellow flour ground from hard durum wheat, is coaxed into the many dried pasta shapes. Gluten-free alternatives are now available as are whole-wheat varieties. Try pasta made from quinoa – it’s a high-protein grain whose flour also makes a great pasta.

Cooking Dried Pasta
To cook dried pasta to perfection:
(1) Bring a large pot of water to a full boil – 1 gallon of water for 1 pound of pasta. The large quantity of water allows the individual pieces to dance in the rolling water. The pasta will cook more evenly and not stick together.

(2) Salt the cooking water. Tradition has it that the water should be as salty as sea water. This means a generous teaspoon or two of salt per quart of water. This seems like a lot of salt in our sodium-conscious world, but most of this will be discarded with the cooking water when the pasta is drained.

(3) Slip the dried pasta into the boiling water and stir with a spoon often in the first minute or two to prevent sticking.

(4) Most pasta will cook in 5-7 minutes depending on the shape and brand. But, the only way to really test for doneness is to remove a piece and bite into it. It should be just barely cooked through to be at the desired al dente (“to the tooth” – still firm, yet no longer hard) stage. Alternatively, test for doneness by cutting the pasta piece and observing the center of the pasta; it should be even in color with the slightest speck of white still at its core.

(5) Remove about 1 cup of the cooking water. This water can be added back into the pasta in small amounts to prevent sticking, or may be used to thin cheesy sauces.

(6) Drain the pasta into a waiting colander. Shake the colander to release excess water. If the pasta is destined for a cold pasta salad, you might consider rinsing it in the colander to halt cooking and remove excess starch, otherwise immediately sauce the pasta.

Fasta Pasta - Innovative tool for cooking perfect pasta in the microwave. No mess, no hot kitchen, great results!

Tips:
• Use a lid when bringing the water to a boil. Boiling will happen more quickly and save energy with the conserved heat.
• Reduce the heat once the pasta has started to dance in the water to prevent boiling over issues; avoid adding oil to the water – slippery pasta doesn’t absorb sauce well!
• For Mac & Cheese dishes that will be baked, leave the pasta slightly underdone; it will finish cooking during the oven stage.
• Different shapes or different brands of the same shape have different cooking times. Ideally, cook different shapes separately and mix once cooked.

Simple Sauces for Mac & Cheese

The simplest of sauces can be the perfect choice for the tastiest macaroni & cheese. Our first two recipes demonstrate just this notion with a sauce of cheese, crème fraiche (substitute sour cream if necessary), and leftover pasta water. The heat of the pasta merges the sauce ingredients together seamlessly. It doesn’t get easier!

How to make a Roux-based Sauce
Our third recipe uses a roux-based sauce to thicken and coat the cooked pasta. Learning how to make a roux (rhymes with “boo”) is a foundational cooking technique. Successful roux making will allow you to access all kinds of sauces that distinguish fine cooking.

(1) Over low heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter.
(2) Add 2 tablespoons of flour; stir with a whisk to incorporate.
(3) Continue to whisk gently (to prevent scorching) as the butter and flour mixture bubbles and cooks for 5 minutes. In this process, the flour will lose its raw taste. Don’t shortcut the time even though it appears that nothing is changing.
(4) Add 1 c. of milk all at once to the roux and stir well. Continue to heat the mixture, stirring continuously as it gradually thickens. Stir and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

This will make a medium-thick sauce. For a thin sauce, double the milk, or half the butter and flour. For a thick sauce, halve the milk, or double the butter and flour.

Beurre manié - This is another butter/flour thickener for sauces, soups, and gravies, make the paste by kneading together equal parts (by weight) butter and flour. Butter coats each grain of flour preventing lumps as small pieces are added to hot mixtures. Make large marbles of beurre manié and keep in the freezer for handy use.

Key White Sauces:

Béchamel – basic white sauce with butter, flour and milk

Mornay – basic white sauce with grated cheese added

Velouté – stock (chicken, veal, or fish) is substituted for milk

A saucier style of saucepan is especially designed for sauces, risottos, and other foods that require frequent or continuous stirring. The curved shape matches whisks and spoons, and helps prevent scorching in the corners of regular saucepans.

RECIPE: Gratin of Penne with Artichokes and Four Cheeses

The complexity of taste found in this Mac & Cheese belied the ease of assembling this gratin. The dish’s intriguing personality emerged from a pleasing combination of smooth fontina, hearty Gruyère, a surprising smidgen of Stilton, and a tangy topping of pecorino. Individual gratin dishes were a perfect presentation.

Recipes from Macaroni & Cheese by Marlena Spieler. Copyright © 2006. Reprinted with permission of Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA. All rights reserved.

Make It Easy and Personal:

Le Creuset Individual Gratin Dishes - Small, petite versions of the classic gratin shape are now available. Perfect side dish serving presentation.
Le Creuset Mini Round Cocette – Charming individual stoneware casseroles keep all sides warm and ready. Lids make storing and reheating easy.
Ramekins - Available in many sizes, ramekins also offer individualized serving options and portion control.

Easy Cheesy

There are thousands of cheeses in the world, and we have easy access to over a hundred on any given day at our local grocer. With macaroni and cheese, it’s the cheese selection that gives the dish its personality.

Shred cheese for easy melting. Large shreds will blend directly into hot pasta, or hot white sauce. Avoid pre-shredded cheeses that contain anti-caking agents; they don’t enhance the texture or flavor of the macaroni and cheese dish.

Many hard cheeses, (Parmesan, Asiago, pecorino), will not melt easily due to their low moisture content. Grate these cheeses with a fine grater to improve their melting ability. Finely grated hard cheeses can create an easy, tasty crust on top of baked macaroni and cheese.

Rinds of cheese, whether the bloomy rinds of Brie, or the hard, hard exterior of Parmesan, will not melt. Trim away rinds when making Mac & Cheese. (Save rinds from hard cheeses for flavoring a soup later on).

Some cheeses just don’t melt well, (feta, cottage cheese, ricotta, etc.), so make another choice for Mac & Cheese, or adjust your expectations toward enjoying a crumbly texture.

Oven to Table

Bakeware choices have never been more plentiful or beautiful. No longer are we limited to plain glass, rectangular dishes for our baked recipes. New ceramic technologies have increased the durability and practicality of many new and beautiful shapes and sizes.

Advantages of Oven-to-Table Bakeware
- Kitchen workhorses now in brilliant colors
- Special ceramic resists temperature shock as bakeware moves from refrigerator to oven
- Stylish presentation on the table
- Make, bake, and store leftovers; reheat in oven – all in one dish
- Durable glaze is scratch and chip resistant
- Glazed surface is naturally nonstick for easy clean-up
- Dishwasher safe

Le Creuset Gratins – Oval shape bakes until bubbly. Shallow depth heats food quickly while the top browns beautifully. Distinctive handles make managing easy.

Le Creuset Baking Dishes – Rectangular, oval, or square, these versatile dishes bake casseroles, cakes, or brownies. Hardwearing surfaces with lasting color.

Le Creuset Casseroles – Square or round, rectangular or oval, these casseroles with lids cover baking and roasting functions with style.

Emile Henry Au Gratin Dishes – Classic shallow, oval shapes in brilliant colors, these dishes are extremely durable, resistant to scratching, and temperature tolerant from freezer to oven to table.

Emile Henry Casseroles – Rectangular, square or round, beautiful dishes bake and serve in elegant fashion. The extremely hard glaze and durability is backed up with a 10-year warranty.

Emile Henry Lasagna Pans – Sized for this classic dish, the ceramic technology imparts its best during baking and serving. Available in multiple colors.

RECIPE: Macaroni and Cheese “Broccolissimo”

Macaroni & cheese welcomes vegetable partners with no problem. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower are particularly good cohorts with pasta and cheese. We opted for Asiago in our first version of this dish, and half Asiago and half Appenzeller in our second rendition. Delicious results!

Recipes from Macaroni & Cheese by Marlena Spieler. Copyright © 2006. Reprinted with permission of Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA. All rights reserved.

Cookbook Review:

Macaroni & Cheese by Marlena Spieler. Copyright © 2006. Published by Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA.
What appears to be a narrow subject, Macaroni & Cheese, garners broad representation in this fun cookbook. If you’re a pasta lover, and/or a cheese lover, you’ll be delighted at the dozens of recipes that take this comfort food combination in multiple new directions. From “Easy and Cheesy,” to “Stove-top,” “Baked,” “Soups & Salads” and “Sweets,” the author improvises on the classic dish with clever collaborations and global inspirations. Here’s what’s next on our list to try: “The Contessa’s Rigatoni,” “Sexy Mayor of Rome Carbonara,” and “Hot and Spicy Mac and Cheese.” Who knew that the Macaroni & Cheese world could be so endlessly varied and always delicious!

Start the water boiling, shred the cheese, and get ready to experience the real thing.