Hubba Bubba macaroni and cheese
My mom makes a killer homemade macaroni and cheese.
It’s not that processed glow-in-the-dark kind, but an ooey-gooey concoction that only comes from a mother’s heart.
For some reason this week, I got it in my head that I would try to make it. How hard could it be? It’s a two-ingredient dish – macaroni and cheese – right?
So I cooked a box of rotini (I figured I’d jazz it up a bit) and started melting a pack of shredded cheese in another pan, adding a little butter to keep it from clumping. It didn’t look to be doing the trick so I tried to think back to my college years when limited finances had me eating the boxed variety several nights a week.
What were the other ingredients? Oh, yeah, milk.
So I poured in some milk, and the cheese started to take on a smoother consistency.
Until I stirred it.
It stuck to the wooden spoon like chewing gum on a hot pavement sticks to a shoe. When I added the pasta, the cheese just sat there in the middle of the pan and wobbled back and forth like Flubber.
It didn’t taste as bad as it looked, and my husband actually liked it – which is more than I can say about most of my cooking.
But Mom, if you’re reading this, can you help me out? I’ve got two giant Tupperware containers of leftovers in the freezer that need some fixin’.
It’s not that processed glow-in-the-dark kind, but an ooey-gooey concoction that only comes from a mother’s heart.
For some reason this week, I got it in my head that I would try to make it. How hard could it be? It’s a two-ingredient dish – macaroni and cheese – right?
So I cooked a box of rotini (I figured I’d jazz it up a bit) and started melting a pack of shredded cheese in another pan, adding a little butter to keep it from clumping. It didn’t look to be doing the trick so I tried to think back to my college years when limited finances had me eating the boxed variety several nights a week.
What were the other ingredients? Oh, yeah, milk.
So I poured in some milk, and the cheese started to take on a smoother consistency.
Until I stirred it.
It stuck to the wooden spoon like chewing gum on a hot pavement sticks to a shoe. When I added the pasta, the cheese just sat there in the middle of the pan and wobbled back and forth like Flubber.
It didn’t taste as bad as it looked, and my husband actually liked it – which is more than I can say about most of my cooking.
But Mom, if you’re reading this, can you help me out? I’ve got two giant Tupperware containers of leftovers in the freezer that need some fixin’.
posted by Michelle Mahfoufi at 12:17 PM
Michelle recently gave up her career to be a full-time stay-at-home mom to a toddler. At least that's the plan ....
1 Comments:
In case you're curious, here's the recipe. My mom e-mailed it after she read this entry.
Classic Mac and Cheese- serves 10-12 as a side dish (I halve the recipe or cook the full batch and freeze it to pop into the microwave at a later date)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt
1 pound elbow macaroni
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons powered mustard
5 cups milk (whole, low-fat, or skim)
2 packages (8 oz each) Kraft Classic Melts 4 cheese
Cook pasta with 1 tablespoon salt.
Heat butter over medium-high heat until foaming. Add the flour, mustard and remaining 1 teaspoon salt and whisk well to combine. Continue whisking until the mixture deepens in color, about 1 minute. Whisking constantly, gradually add the milk; bring the mixture to a boil, whisking constantly (the mixture must reach a full boil to fully thicken, but be careful - it burns easily!), then reduce the heat to medium and simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened to the consistency of heavy cream, about 5 minutes. Off the heat, whisk in the cheese until fully melted. Add the pasta and stir until the mixture is steaming and fully heated.
It is a very easy recipe but needs a little attention the first time you make it (the timing is important for each step so that it doesn't burn). You can add more milk or cheese, depending on how creamy or cheesy you like it. You can also add bread crumbs as a topping and bake it for a few minutes until brown. Enjoy!!
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