Errika Eats

Its freezing where I live in Spokane, Washington and with 10 inches of new snow on the ground I was hungry for something delicious. Due to the state of the roads and my overall Saturday morning laziness I did not feel like venturing out into the cold to brave the streets or my local Yoke’s grocery isles. What to make? What to make?
I took a look in the fridge and pantry and it appeared I had some basic ingredients to make, mac and cheese!!!! Now I’m a mac and cheese kind of girl. Usually the fancier the better for me. I like a creamy consistency topped with something crunchy. I got onto foodnetwork.com and perused their recipes until I found one that I basically had the ingredients for.
 Typically, I only make things from food network that have a 5 star rating. The recipe I chose was 4 stars by Alton Brown. It spoke to me because it was simple and I seemed to have all of the needed ingredients.  I think by the time I was done it was a 5 star recipe.
Alton Brown's Baked Mac and Cheese

Baked Mac and Cheese

Ingredients

• 1/2 -3/4 lbs of elbow macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 12 ounces sharp cheddar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper

The extras to make it Errika's way

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/3 pound crisp cooked bacon, chopped
• hot sauce 3-4 dashes or to taste
• 1/2 cup of sour cream
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Topping:

• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it’s free of lumps. Stir in the milk, garlic powder, onion, bay leaf, hot sauce, nutmeg and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf. Temper in the egg. Add the sour cream and bacon, stir to combine.  Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray or buttered. Top with remaining cheese.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs.
Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

What I did different and why...

For all of those who don’t know, mac and cheese turns out best when strong or sharp cheese is used. I only had a big mother block of medium cheddar on hand. I knew I had to pump up the recipe to make it tastier. So, I cooked up about a 1/3 of a pound of bacon super crisp and chopped it and added it to my cheese mixture. Also, to my white sauce I added a pinch of garlic powder, ground nutmeg and about 4 dashes of a hot sauce, I prefer Crystal. After tempering the egg and adding to the white sauce I also added about a 1/2 of a cup of sour cream.  Sour cream added extra tang and creaminess. No one even missed the sharp cheddar.  In fact, my husband said it was the best mac and cheese he’d ever had that I made.  Not too shabby for having nothing to cook!

This is a great basic recipe for mac and cheese. You could change out the elbow macaroni for penne (even whole wheat) or any other medium-sized pasta you have on hand. Also, the cheese can be whatever you have, this is a great recipe to use up all of your leftover cheese blocks. Throw in some parm, pepper jack or fontina.

Recipe Tips/Notes:

I recommend using more than the 1/2 pound of elbow macaroni.  This recipe makes a lot of sauce.  If making my modified version cook up about 12 oz of pasta and add to your sauce as needed.

Don’t leave out the onion even if you don't like onion. It adds a great dimension of flavor and you won't even be able to tell its onion. If you don’t have panko or have a hard time finding it, put 2-3 slices of white bread in your food processor and toss with the melted butter. You could also use dried bread crumbs but fresh are always better.

Serve with a fresh tossed salad or broiled broccoli and a loaf of crusty bread for a great meal. Enjoy!