Home made Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese is a classic American favorite. From the elbow macaroni to the cheese sauce, it's like a big ole hug from your Mom or Grandma. I'm going to show you my recipe on this classic dish that will leave you licking your spoon and wanting seconds! I never had homemade macaroni and cheese until I was an adult and then I was hooked! That's what happens when you have a mother who is German (as in came from Germany) and a Grandmother who hates dairy products (no joke my Grammy hated dairy products). Me on the other hand loved all things dairy even though I've very lactose intolerant. Obviously I've got a handle on my lactose intolerance now and cheese is my BFF!

You're going to see my break this down and what once seemed like it would take hours to make is truly a simple come home and fix it kind of dish.

Now for your shopping list...

*1lb box of elbow macaroni (I use Barilla)

*1 pkg of pre cooked bacon (I like the precooked kind makes for a mess free process in cooking- trust me on this).

*3 shallots chopped fine

*1 teaspoon dry mustard 

*1 teaspoon thyme

*1 teaspoon black pepper

Now for the cheese and there's quite a bit of it!

*1-8 ounce pkg of shredded cheese such as cheddar or even mexi-blend (I've used both in the past and as long as the base cheese in cheddar it makes little difference). Now you can buy a block of cheese and grate it yourself but why? I like to save myself time in the kitchen and just buy the packaged shredded cheese.

*2 ounces of Fontina Cheese. Just dice this up no shredding needed

*1 cup of roughly grated Parmesan cheese

*3½ cups of milk (I use 2%)

*¼ cup of flour

*4 Tablespoons butter (I use salt free butter in all of my recipes) 

My brands of choice- Barilla pasta is my go to pasta brand! Coleman's Mustard and Spice Island Thyme. Cook pasta in a pot of simmering water for 7  to 8 minutes- the "Al Dente" time on the box, mushy pasta is yucky firm pasta is GOOD.

I use 2% milk  lactose free milk because it's what "I" drink at home but you can use regular milk and even whole milk it that's what you have at home. I can't guarantee how this will taste with anything below 2%. Now here's a trick...take that refrigerator cold milk and heat it up in the mircowave for a couple of minutes. It'll make the thickening process go so much faster and there's the added benefit of NO LUMPS! Adding cold milk into your pot will only prolong the stirring process. So heat up your milk!

Shallots- I chop mine up fine and saute them in a little butter until golden. I also take that package of ore-cooked bacon and cut it all up small with a pair of cooking shears. Don't ahve that tool? Use a pair of scissors and cut up your bacon. Toss it in the pan with the shallots to warm it through and set aside in a bowl.

Melt 4 Tablespoons of butter and the ¼ cup of flour. Stir and stir and stir some more not letting it burn. Once kind of golden looking and bubbling like the picture (takes about 3 to 4 minutes) slowly add in your warm milk.

Here's what it looks like after you add the warm milk. Now stir! For as long as it takes!

See, this is me stirring. Okay so I had to grab the camera and snap a picture but I was stirring! Stir until it thickens! Trust me it will go quicker if you heated up your milk! You will be able to notice the difference in the consistency. Do you see the plastic bowl in the previous picture? That's all of my cheese! Now slowly add that in...

Stir in that cheese until it melts!

Here I've added the sauteed shallots and the chopped up bacon.

Here I've added in the spices. I know that I did this a little backwards. You can certainly add in the spices before you add the cheese but there's a method to my madness. Spices are heavier and they tend to sink to the bottom of any liquid. Having the sauce now seriously thickened by the cheese tends to let the other ingredients like the shallots and bacon along with the spices to  be suspended in the sauce, so one bite tastes lile all the others.

Add in those al dente cooked elbow macaronis (you should have used the entire box because that's what the recipe calls for) and serve this in lovely little bowls! Of course there's always MORE you can do to this recipe.  Say you're having a dinner party and what to fancy this up a bit- put it in a 9x13 baking dish, put some bread crumbs on top (I use panko bread crumbs because of the flakiness factor not to mention it's pretty and yummy). Bake at 375º until golden brown- maybe 15 to 20 minutes.

Panzanella

There are so many things I love about summer time! Recipes that include fresh tomatoes and basil are one of my favorites. It's got to be the unique flavors of the two items that sent my taste buds doing the happy dance.  This is a great salad for summer entertaining! You can bake the croutons a day or two ahead of time and store them in a ziplock baggie.


So here goes with a quick and easy recipe that will leave your family and friends wanting more!

Ingredients list:
1½ lbs of vine ripened tomatoes-seeded and chopped (see pictures)
1 cucumber- seeded and sliced thinly
1 shallot- sliced thinly
3 Tablespoons of red wine vinegar (get the good stuff, you'll thank me for this later) 
 6Tablespoons of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)  
½ teaspoon salt (I use Kosher salt in just about all of my recipes)
pepper to taste but I'd say no more than a ½ teaspoon
1 loaf rustic Italian bread (I use Ciabatta) 
basil- get the freshest that you can!

Here you see my 2 key ingredients the red wine vinegar and the olive oil.Yup my 2 favorite brands!

 

Slice tomato in half and remove the seeds. Here's a trick I learned when taking all of those private classes with various chefs- use a Grapefruit spoon when removing the core from tomatoes, cucumbers, melons basically anything that's soft and fleshy with seeds.

 The inside of that tomato look nice and seed free! Another trick when slicing tomatoes- use a serrated edge knife such as a steak or a bread knife. Makes a clean cut every time!

Here's my chopped tomato with the salt. I mix the salt into the tomatoes and let it sit for about 20 minutes letting it work it's magic. The juice from the tomatoes is part of the salad dressing.

After the tomatoes have had a chance to release their juices, add the red wine vinegar and mix, then add the olive oil and really mix with your little whisk. Add black pepper (no more than a ½ teaspoon, remember this is to your own personal tastes so add more or less as you like it). What you'll have is this. Now pour this over the tomatoes, cucumbers and sliced shallots. Let the flavors blend/marinate. This is also a good time to add the basil. Slice the basil thinly (sorry I didn't get a picture of this process). Add as much or as little ask you like. Me, I like a lot so I add a lot but go with a couple of chopped tablespoons at first and see how you like it and then go from there.

See how easy it is to seed a cucumber with a grapefruit spoon- it makes it so pretty!

Cut cucumber in half, cut out the seeds using a grapefruit spoon-then slice thinly.

Thinly sliced shallots, make sure to poke out all of the slices as no one likes to get a big ole bite of onion flavored anything.

My ciabatta bread cut into rustic cubes, I drizzle olive oil (about 1 teaspoon- separate from the 6 T used in the dressing). Spread out on a baking tray or two. Bake in a 400º oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Here's my baked croutons, nice and golden and dry! You need them to be dry so they won't get soggy in your salad.

I toss the tomato mixture on top of the home made croutons and mix thoroughly.

Here's the finished product- it's  seriously yummy!