Recipe: Cheating with Macaroni and Cheese
02/25/2009Most people, myself included, grew up on that stuff from that company starting with a K that came in a box with a packet of powdered cheese. That’s a real shame, too – for years, I had always thought of Mac & Cheese as a money saving food substance – not really for a satisfying meal – more for a “I’m too broke to pay the cable bill” type of meal. That was, until I grew up and started making the stuff that you throw in the oven. Today, Mac & Cheese is a nice comfort food, which has a dynamic and flavor way different than the stuff you find in a box. I’m thankful that I found this out the hard way.
The biggest hurdle I’ve ever had to making homestyle oven-baked macaroni & cheese is getting the sauce down. I’ll show you a great way to get a nice consistent sauce down on this one, although I don’t have many pictures to back it up. I may have to take some 
Usually, powdered cheese aside, cheese sauce for Mac & Cheese is made from a Roux, with milk added to it, and then cheese added to that. This gives a great gooey consistency, and the flavor that you really want to have in an adult version of a childhood favorite. This always tastes great, as long as it’s assembled correctly. Using my secret ingredient save a great deal of time and makes the sauce much more likely to not turn into some greasy mess (and I’ve had my share of failed attempts at Macaroni and Cheese!)
Recipe
is sort of a misnomer here – this recipe was totally off-the-cuff when I made it last night, and went something like this:
- 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
- 1/2 can of water (use the Cream of mushroom can)
- around 1/2 pound of shredded cheddar cheese – the more the better
- a little bit of Mozarella if you like stringyness to your mac & cheese
- enough cooked Macaroni to fill a medium size ramekin
- a handful of bacon, if you like that sort of thing (who doesn’t?)
Now, here’s where it gets interesting. The Cream of Mushroom soup essentially acts as the roux and milk in a standard Mac and Cheese recipe. It will take on a bunch of cheese, and come out creamy and taste rich, even if you’re using Healthy Request or a light cream of mushroom soup like my wife usually picks up at the store.
Start off by opening the soup into a saucepan, and adding 1/2 a can of water. Mix this until combined, and heat until warm. While I’m doing this, I usually cook my macaroni noodles until they’re al-dente. Then, set them aside to finish up your sauce. Back to the saauce: While stirring continuously, add small handfuls of cheese – when one handful is completely integrated, add another handful until all your cheese is gone. Now, you’ve got a cheesy mixture – your soup should also now be a nice yellow color. Add a little pepper to taste, and if you choose not to opt for bacon pieces, add salt to taste. If you’ve gone the bacon route, add it now. Your sauce is now complete.
Next, take your drained macaroni noodles, and integrate the macaroni into the saucepan that contains your sauce. It’s important to note that you want to end up with a very saucy mixture when you’re done – don’t try to spread your cheese sauce too thin because it will firm up when you put it in the oven and soak into the noodles and you’ll end up with a dry macaroni & cheese, and that’s not Good Eats (ha!)
Okay, thoughts of Alton Brown suing me aside, pour your Macaroni & Cheese into your medium sized Ramekin, and throw it all into a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. After this, if you want to make it a little fancier, pull the Ramekin out of the oven, turn your broiler on high, throw another handful of cheese on the top of your Macaroni & Cheese mixture (located in the Ramekin) and place back in the oven close to the broiler until the cheese on top just starts to take on a slightly brown color. This will crisp up and give a little crunch to the Mac & Cheese – good stuff.
Pull it back out, let it sit for about 5 minutes, and then dig in!
(Editor’s note: Readers may note that I’m a type 2 diabetic – that means I have to watch/control my carb intake. In all my pasta recipes, I use Dreamfields brand pastas. They claim 5 grams of net carbs per serving, and generally do not mess my blood sugar levels up very much at all. I will say that they do seem, to me, to be very low on the glycemic load scale. If you’re diabetic and haven’t tried them, you should give them a shot – I am very satisfied with their products. And no, this is not a paid endorsement )
Categories : Diabetes, Recipes
