I love date night. In fact, it’s the one night a week that I really look forward to. Don’t get me wrong, I love my weekends - hanging out with friends and perfecting the art of doing nothing, but date night is the night where I know where I will be and what I will be doing. Last night was date night. Chris had been baiting me for almost a week with his dinner surprise. For almost a week prior to yesterday, I got periodic emails with cryptic questions and hints. “Do you have a large baking pan and flour?” “You’ll like it. It involves Gruyere cheese.” Intrigued and slightly nosey, I valiantly tried to get the answer out of Chris. No luck. It was all worth the wait though when he unveiled the piece de résistance: The ultimate version of homemade Macaroni and Cheese. If you have never made the homemade kind, I would suggest you abort all other thoughts of what you were thinking about making for dinner tonight and make this perfect comfort food. Not only did it contain bacon, but three types of cheese and the perfect nutmeg/roasted garlic sauce. Although it took longer to make than we had originally thought (almost 2 hours) the wait was well worth it. The combination of all three cheeses – Gruyere, cheddar and Parmesan - set against a hint of roasted garlic and nutmeg made for an outstanding flavour combination. I wish I could say that I got my hands dirty and helped to make this masterpiece, but alas, I only viewed from the living room. I did, however, occasionally sneak into the kitchen and help myself to a handful of cheese or cooked pasta.
I would like to propose a toast to Chris; For sending my taste buds into a heavenly state and for taking two of my favorite foods (garlic and Gruyere Cheese) and creating something divine.
Best Mac ‘n’ Cheese Ever from Laura Macek
Adapted from Emeril’s Best Mac ‘n’ Cheese Challenge
Ingredients:
- 1 head of garlic, roasted
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 pound Cavatappi pasta
- ½ pound sliced Applewood smoked bacon (optional)
- 1 ½ cups fresh white bread crumbs (5 slices, crusts removed)
- ½ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
- 8 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup minced shallots
- ½ cup flour
- 1 quart whole milk
- 6 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated
- 8 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Directions
- Roast garlic at 350°: Slice ½ inch off the top of the entire head of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap garlic head tightly in a square of heavy foil and roast until tender about 45 minutes. Remove garlic pulp by squeezing garlic head. Smash cloves with a fork to form a paste.
- Cook pasta according to package directions.
- Cook bacon completely. Drain on paper towels. Reserve 1 tablespoon of bacon fat. Crumble bacon when cool.
Topping
- Combine breadcrumbs, crumbled bacon, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Set aside.
Sauce
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- Sauté shallots over low heat in reserved bacon fat for one minute. Add remaining 6 tablespoons of butter and continue to sauté shallots in butter and bacon fat until translucent. If you aren’t using bacon in your dish, just add an additional tablespoon of butter.
- Add flour and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes. Increase heat to medium. Stirring constantly with a whisk, add milk and roasted garlic paste.
- Cook until sauce is thickened. You will know when it's ready when you can coats the back of a spoon. Remove sauce from heat then add salt, pepper, nutmeg, Gruyere and Cheddar cheeses. Taste and adjust salt and pepper if necessary.
Assembly
- Stir in cooked pasta. Pour into baking dish. Sprinkle topping to cover entire top. Cover with foil and bake 15 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking until sauce is bubbly and topping is browned.
No comments:
Post a Comment