The Magic of an Ordinary Day

Mac 'n Cheese

It's recently come to my attention that some people think that Macaroni and Cheese comes exclusively from a box.  They've never enjoyed the rich, comforting cheesy goodness of homemade Macaroni and Cheese.  What a travesty.

This is the most often requested recipe from the pot luck gang at the CCU.  I'll list the bare-bones recipe first then add the commentary.  It is adapted from the fabulous, can't-do-without Joy of Cooking.

This recipe makes a pot-luck sized batch (a deep 13 by 9 inch baking pan).  Set oven at 350 degrees.

1 stick butter
1/2 cup flour
4 cups milk
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 bay leaves
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 13 oz container frozen green chile, thawed and drained ( I use Bueno hot autumn roast)
Hot sauce ( I use Cholula)
Salt to taste
4 1/2 cup shredded cheese ( I usually use a Colby-Monterrey jack mix, but will usually throw in whatever I have in the house.  Adding a little  smoked provolone adds a great flavor)
1 pound uncooked pasta
3/4 cups buttered Panko bread crumbs.  (1 1/2 TB melted butter combined with 3/4 cups bread crumbs).

1.  Make the Bechamel Sauce:  Melt the butter on medium heat and stir in the flour when the butter is melted.  Add the paprika to the butter/flour mixture.  Whisk it continuously for a few minutes to get the raw flour taste out of it. Then whisk in the milk gradually.  Classic french cuisine would have you scald the milk first, but if you add it gradually -- maybe 1/3 of the milk at a time -- it will be fine. 

2.  Once the sauce is slightly thickened, you can switch your whisk out for a spoon and add the onion, bay leaf and green chile.  Add a few shakes of the hot sauce.  I do seven shakes myself but it is all personal preference.  Cook it on medium low for about 20 minutes, stirring often.  You don't have to have the sauce boiling away, just keep it so that a few bubbles appear on the edge.  If it seems to get a little thick, thin it out with some milk.

3.  While you are lovingly stirring your sauce, cook and drain the pasta, leaving it the tiniest bit underdone.  It's okay, it will cook more in the oven.

4.  When the sauce and pasta are both done, remove the sauce from the heat and stir in about 3 cups of cheese.  Taste and salt to taste after adding the cheese.  Find the bay leaves if you can and pull them out. Combine the pasta and the cheese sauce and stir gently.

5.  Have your big ole baking dish ready and sprayed with Pam.  Put half the mac n cheese mixture in the pan, then sprinkle on half the remaining cheese.  Add the other half of the pasta, then the rest of the cheese and top with the bread crumbs. 

6.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until it's all bubbly and the bread crumbs are toasty looking.  Take it to work and be the Rock Star of the potluck.

Bon Appetit!

my sissified cowboy breakfast

I was up at 7 a.m. and despite getting to bed after 1 a.m. jumped out of bed without using the snooze alarm once!  I had to get Hannah ready for preschool so since I was up and energetic I thought I'd cook breakfast for my man.  So very domestic, don't you think?

So I started with a pot of red chile.  'Cuz that's what cowboys eat in New Mexico.  And I need to make a batch of red chile to take to Tucson for Thanksgiving (after eating red chile on my turkey I'm hooked).  So I started well, using bacon fat instead of shortening or oil but then used -- gasp! -- a mix of chimayo and mild chile.  What can I say, my husband is a gringo. 

So here's my chile,simmering away on the stove.  And don't adjust your monitors it really is this red.

While Dwayne took Hannah to preschool I cooked some bacon and toasted some English Muffins.  And they have to be Bays English muffins.  They are the best, with nice large holes to soak up any sauce.  Yum.

So put the English muffins on a plate (I have these cool plates that I stole from an ex-boyfriend who was a chef who had in turn stole them from work to prepare me some sort of baked shrimp dish.  They are perfect for this).  Put bacon, two eggs, shredded cheese together and top with the red chile.  Just a little chile for my cowboy.  It looks yummy,no?

So why is it sissified?  Well, I know a real cowboy, raised on a ranch in the Gila Wilderness here in New Mexico.  Even though he is a perfectly civilized city dweller, veterinarian and soccer dad, his cowboy instincts are still strong, especially when it comes to food.  And I know what Don would say.

Although I get points for making my own red chile, but...mild chile?  Please.  It also is not accompanied by a huge pile of potatoes and/or beans.  And the English muffing, frankly, is suspect.  A tortilla would have sufficed.  No need for anything, you know, fancy.

And by the way it is spelled chile.  Make no mistake about that.

Fiestacita

We had a mini-fiesta yesterday.  We made tacos and had drinks.  And look!!  There is Dwayne, actually cooking in our new kitchen!  I kid him, because when it's taco time, it is Dwayne that fries the shells.  He gets them to that perfect stage of chewy-crispy.  I always overcook them and when they shatter I  end up with more of a taco plate.   

What can I say, it's a hard skill to learn in Wisconsin.

I got a new cookbook from the Santa Fe School of Cooking, titled Southwest Flavors.  It looks wonderful, and I can't wait to dig in and start doing some gourmet New Mexican meals.  We have an extra refrigerator/freezer in the laundry room, so this year I will have a freezer to devote to a whole bag of frozen chile come fall.  Mmmmm. 

simplifying

In the name of simplifying my life--and the fact that I have had no working kitchen for a month--I have some new and simple way of cooking.   I usually like to make a real mess and dirty every pot in the kitchen, but since I've been washing dishes in the bathroom sink I've been rethinking that approach.

• The grill---total lifesaver.  Can grill meat, fish, veggies, potatoes and toast/warm bread, tortillas or pitas. 
• Gourmet ravioli---boil, toss with olive oil, roasted red peppers from a jar, calmata olives, and roasted chicken from the grocery store.  Sprinkle with shredded cheese.  Quick and yummy.
• The slacker sangria---a recipe from fellow co-worker and former bartender, Alissa.  Take red wine and black cherry fresca and mix half and half in a plastic cup with plenty of ice.  Sounds so freshman year but it is really good!
• Cold cereal---not just for breakfast anymore.
• Rice mixes (especially the Cajun ones) with shrimp/sausage/chicken added.  Plug it in the electric rice cooker and it cooks itself.

I will soon be done with simple, slacker, dish-conserving meals, however!!  The electrician was here today, finalizing the wiring, the counter top and sink will be installed on Friday and on Monday the plumber will plumb everything, our appliances will be installed and connected and we will be done except for the door and window.

In celebration of our almost done kitchen, I ordered the piece de resistance of my kitchen, the Kitchen Aid mixer in Tangerine.  Can't wait to use that bad boy!