There are two kinds of macaroni and cheese in this world. One comes from a box. The other comes from heaven.
If you re in a very big hurry and need fuel instead of food, then go for the box. Lots of people do. In 1937, Kraft Food Co. released its macaroni and cheese package to a world that, judging by the figures, couldn’t wait to get its hands on it. Current sales stand at hundreds of millions of boxes per year. That many boxes and that many people couldn’t be wrong. Mac in a box is fast. It is easy. It is fill-er-up time.
Now, if you happen to believe that fuel should be reserved for vehicles with four wheels instead of living things with two legs, macaroni and cheese from scratch is what you should be thinking.
With the cold evenings ahead, comfort foods are most appropriate. And the most comfortable food just might be macaroni and cheese from scratch. It s angel food without the cake.
What homemade macaroni and cheese boils down to is baked pasta (it doesn’t have to be traditional elbow macaroni) in a cheesy white sauce with a crusty, crunchy top.
Homemade macaroni and cheese has been around a long time. In the 1700s, cooks in New England began to experiment with dried pasta. Dried pasta traveled well, from Italy to England, then on to the Colonies.
Most often, the cooked dried pasta would be combined with a simple white sauce made of butter, flour and milk, placed in a casserole and baked, sometimes with a buttered bread-crumb topping. Pretty posh stuff for such a primitive place.
No less a luminary than Thomas Jefferson was gaga over macaroni and cheese. The story goes that he brought a macaroni machine back from a trip to Italy and served up baked macaroni and cheese at dinner parties.
Macaroni pie or pudding is a version of macaroni and cheese bound together with an egg custard and baked. “Theresa C. Brown s Modern Domestic Cookery,” published in 1871, includes the recipe, which became a staple in kitchens in Georgia and the Carolinas.
A more elaborate version of this pudding is often credited to William Kitchiner’s “The Cook s Oracle” (1817), a book widely used in the Deep South. But macaroni puddings long predate Kitchiner and were true puddings–steamed in a mold and rich with real Parmesan cheese, roasted poultry and ham.
Bits of meat (ham marries especially well with cheese and pasta) and vegetables (sun-dried tomatoes, carrots, suit your taste) can be added to modern versions of macaroni and cheese as well.
And do experiment with the cheese. Macaroni and cheese is not the exclusive territory of American and Cheddar. Try combinations, such as Parmesan and Cheddar; asiago, Cheddar and smoked mozzarella; fontina, goat cheese, Parmesan and Cheddar. Low-fat cheese also can be used to cut down on fat and calories.
Macaroni, in Italy, is a long tube that resembles fat, hollow spaghetti. This is the kind of pasta that would have been familiar to 19th Century cooks and would have been found in their versions of macaroni and cheese. Elbow macaroni is a product of the 20th Century.
If you find real Italian macaroni, by all means use it, but break it up into short pieces, like the cooks who first assembled macaroni and cheese did. Otherwise, use the far more common elbow macaroni or other pastas such as penne, farfalle (bowties) or orecchiette.
Whichever you choose, during the boiling the pasta must soften just enough so that it will bake to doneness with the other ingredients. If it is completely cooked beforehand, it will come out of the oven a characterless mush.
To stop the cooking and to wash away excess starch, place the pasta in a colander and run it under cold water. Removing the starch is important. If you don t, you run the risk of turning the sauce mealy.
And you can t have that with a food from heaven.
MACARONI AND BEEF CASSEROLE
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Adapted from “The New York Times Cookbook,” by Craig Claiborne.
1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
3 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped bell green pepper
1 pound ground chuck or round steak
1 teaspoon each: dried basil, dried oregano
1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes, drained
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
10 ounces Cheddar cheese, cubed
Salt, freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Ground red pepper
Grated Parmesan cheese
1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Cook macaroni in boiling salted water until almost tender. Drain in colander; rinse under cold running water. Set aside.
2. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of the butter in skillet; add onion and green pepper. Cook, stirring, until onion wilts, about 5 minutes. Add meat; cook, stirring, until meat is no longer red, about 5 minutes. Drain fat in large sieve. Return meat mixture to skillet. Add basil, oregano and tomatoes. Cook 3 minutes. Set aside.
3. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons butter in saucepan; whisk in flour. Add milk, stirring rapidly with whisk. Cook, stirring until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in Cheddar cheese. Stir until it melts. Add salt and pepper to taste; add nutmeg and red pepper.
4. Spoon macaroni into 10- by- 7-inch baking dish. Spoon meat mixture over macaroni; pour cheese sauce over all. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake until hot and bubbling throughout, about 25 minutes. Run under heated broiler briefly to brown top, if desired.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………… 575 Fat ………… 35 g Saturated fat … 18 g
% calories from fat .. 55 Cholesterol .. 130 mg Sodium …….. 490 mg
Carbohydrates …… 31 g Protein …….. 35 g Fiber ………. 1.9 g
MACARONI AND CHEESE
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Yield: 10 servings
Adapted from “Saveur Cooks.”
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
6 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
Salt, freshly ground white pepper
4 cups each: milk, shredded Cheddar cheese
1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked al dente, rinsed in cold water
1/2 cup each: whipping cream, fresh bread crumbs
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 6 tablespoons of the butter in heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Add flour; cook until mixture browns, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Stir in red pepper; season with salt and white pepper. Whisk in milk over medium-high heat, 1/4 cup at a time; cook, whisking constantly, until sauce thickens. Reduce heat to low; stir in 2 cups of the cheese. Cook, stirring, until cheese melts, about 2 minutes.
2. Combine cheese sauce and cooked macaroni in large bowl; season with salt. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the cheese in bottom of buttered 11-by-8-inch baking dish. Put 1/3 of pasta in dish. Top with 1/2 cup of the cheese. Repeat layering pasta and cheese two more times, ending with cheese.
3. Pour cream over macaroni and cheese. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in skillet. Add bread crumbs to butter; stir to coat well. Sprinkle over macaroni and cheese. Bake until crumbs are crunchy and golden, about 30 minutes. Let rest 15 minutes before serving.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………… 920 Fat ………… 53 g Saturated fat … 32 g
% calories from fat .. 53 Cholesterol .. 160 mg Sodium …….. 790 mg
Carbohydrates …… 32 g Protein …….. 36 g Fiber ………… 3 g
MACARONI PIE OR PUDDING
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Yield: 6 side-dish servings
Adapted from “Classical Southern Cooking,” by Damon Lee Fowler.
1 pound long Italian macaroni, broken into short pieces, or elbow macaroni
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup each: cracker crumbs, grated sharp Cheddar or Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground pepper
4 large eggs
2 cups half-and-half
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cook macaroni in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain. Return to pot; add butter, tossing until butter is melted and pasta is well-coated.
2. Spoon layer of macaroni into bottom of buttered 2-quart baking dish. Spread 1/4 of the cracker crumbs over pasta; sprinkle with 1/4 of the cheese. Repeat layers of macaroni, crackers and cheese until all are used up, ending with cheese. Sprinkle top with pepper to taste.
3. Beat eggs until light in medium bowl. Whisk in half-and-half. Pour over casserole. Bake until eggs are set and top is golden, about 30 minutes.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………… 505 Fat ………… 19 g Saturated fat … 10 g
% calories from fat .. 62 Cholesterol .. 115 mg Sodium …….. 290 mg
Carbohydrates …… 64 g Protein …….. 18 g Fiber ………. 2.8 g
GREEN CHILI MACARONI AND CHEESE
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour, 50 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
1 pound dry pasta such as penne
Salt, olive oil
2 quarts (8 cups) whipping cream
1 small yellow onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
3 poblanos or other mild fresh green chilies, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
Salt, freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
When reducing the cream for this rich stovetop recipe, use a pan that is twice the volume of the cream and rinse the pan in cold water. Do not dry. This will help prevent the cream from sticking. Adapted from a recipe from the former Willy s Cantina, Santa Fe. For a healthier sauce, substitute half-and-half and low-fat cheeses.
1. Cook pasta in boiling water with salt and dash of olive oil until tender. Place cream in large, heavy-bottomed saucepan; heat to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low; reduce cream by half, about 1 hour, 45 minutes.
2. Cook onion, garlic and chilies in olive oil in large skillet until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add reduced cream to mixture; heat to boil. Fold in Cheddar and mozzarella until melted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Combine pasta with hot cheese mixture in serving bowl. Sprinkle with cilantro.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………. 1,340 Fat ……….. 114 g Saturated fat … 71 g
% calories from fat .. 75 Cholesterol .. 400 mg Sodium …….. 590 mg
Carbohydrates …… 48 g Protein …….. 34 g Fiber ………. 1.9 g
