Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Baked Goodness In Food - Homeade Macaroni & Cheese


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It started with a Facebook ransom note that the Snacknappers had my Puff N' Corn, Star Crunch & Streusel Cake and for ransom they ask that I make a Dinner (of my choice) for Jamie and even though my Snacks were returned in good faith I did make good on the deal and made my first ever tray of Macaroni & Cheese. You may ask how I got to this point in life without ever making Macaroni & Cheese from scratch and the answer is simple, I am not a huge fan of Mac & Cheese like most are, this may be changing though after having sampled this and seeing its creation through. I can't wait to have some of the leftover portions.

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First Off, you need a whole bunch of ingredients and more than a quart of Milk to fulfill the 5 cups needed for this One Pound (16 oz.) of Macaroni recipe. I am not going to start listing ingredient quantities here, I am just recounting the experience.

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A Whole Lotta Topping (and its crunchy goodness) consist of Panko Bread Crumbs, Parmesan-Reggiano Grated Cheese, Grated Sharp Cheddar and 1 Stick of Unsalted Butter to be baked golden brown atop the Noodles.

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You are looking at One Pound of Elbow Macaroni (drained). I knew that Jamie and myself preferred Shells as the Noodle of choice for Macaroni & Cheese but wanted to make my first try the traditional Elbow Macaroni. And of course there was a SNAFU, I forgot to set aside one cup of Pasta Water (the water I cooked the Noodles in) and as I couldn't siphon what I had poured down the drain back up I used tap water and it seemed to work out fine (until I taste how much better it is with the Pasta water).

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About 20 ounces of Grated Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, One bar Vermont White, One bar Yellow, the Vermont White is under there somewhere.

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Mix the Cheeses, Flour, Milk, Salt & Pepper together with the Noodles, transport to 2 Quart cooking dish and apply Topping. Bake for 20-25 minutes. I baked mine for 30 minutes and what came out you can see in this articles banner photo up top.

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Perdue Chicken Burger, Vine Ripened Tomato Slice, America's Choice Hamburger Bun, Macaroni & Cheese.



1 comment:

Ltl Man said...

OK, So I'm Guessing that You First Made a Roux with the Flour and Butter, then added the Milk to make the Primary Sauce, than added all the cheeses... I don't Cook the Macaroni in the Pot with the Sauce, I just pour the completed sauce over the macaroni in the Baking Dish mix it.... than I put the more slices of the assorted cheeses on top then top that With the butter sauteed Panko..... You could have went off the Deep end and mixed some premade broken-up hamburger into the Macaroni... That is actually Traditional too.....