mac and cheese - hangover style

I woke up today, just as I did yesterday, feeling uneasy and slightly delirious. Once again, I crawled downstairs rummaging through the kitchen for food to soak up my burning stomach. I guess this weekend could be considered my roommate's "birthday weekend" seeing as how her birthday was yesterday. Going along with that, I figured I'd cook food for the whole house to enjoy. In order for that, I'd have to create something not only meatless (she's a vegetarian because of the texture of meat, yes you heard me right) but should consist of something with pasta (which is 99.9% of her diet). Easy enough- mac and cheese it is.


For every few chunks of cheese I chopped, I rewarded myself with a little nibble (or two, or three...).


Le roux et le beschamel. (My attempt to speak French. Hey, I did take two years in high school!)


The delicious smell of cheesy goodness wafted throughout the house, and soon I found my two hungry roommates by my side, birthday girl M and newbie A.


"Hey, whatcha making?" ... Obviously they knew it was mac and cheese, but I guess they just wanted to let me know they acknowledged that I was making it.


We set out some plates and piled the cheesy tubed pasta atop. How does this compare to your boxed plastic rubbery crap, huh Kraft?


Nice and warm, the yellow-tinted sauce smoothly coated each and every macaroni. The cheese wasn't overpowering, but retained that cheesiness I deem a necessity for awesome mac and cheese. Seeping through the center of the macaroni, the creamy sauce was dominant in every bite. Also, every so often you'd get a piece of crusty breadcrumb topping, which also lent the sauce those adorable little specks of flavor.


After feeding myself, my two roommates, and all three of our boyfriends, you can guess how much mac and cheese was left... Yeah, basically nothing. I guess everyone enjoyed it.

---RECIPE---
Taken from Cook's Illustrated.

ingredients:
1 pound elbow macaroni
1 tablespoon table salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1+1/2 teaspoons powdered mustard
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional) (omitted)
5 cups milk
8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese , shredded (2 cups)
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese , shredded (2 cups)
1 teaspoon table salt

directions:
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat broiler. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in Dutch oven over high heat. Add macaroni and 1 tablespoon salt; cook until pasta is tender. Drain pasta and set aside in colander.

2. In now-empty Dutch oven, heat butter over medium-high heat until foaming. Add flour, mustard, and cayenne (if using) and whisk well to combine. Continue whisking until mixture becomes fragrant and deepens in color, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk; bring mixture to boil, whisking constantly (mixture must reach full boil to fully thicken). Reduce heat to medium and simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened to consistency of heavy cream, about 5 minutes. Off heat, whisk in cheeses and 1 teaspoon salt until cheeses are fully melted. Add pasta and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is steaming and heated through, about 6 minutes.

3. Transfer mixture to broiler-safe 9-by 13-inch baking dish and sprinkle evenly with bread crumbs. Broil until crumbs are deep golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes, rotating pan if necessary for even browning. Cool about 5 minutes, then serve.

tiramisu - granting the final of the trifecta

The day before I left for California, my boyfriend and I contemplated what to bake for the day (seeing as how we both needed our daily fix of sweets). My boyfriend, as predictable as he is, generally craves the same things. Besides the good ol' chocolate chip cookies and chewy chunky blondies, he's constantly on the request for red velvet cake, napoleons, or tiramisu. While I've granted him both the red velvet cake and the napoleon, I still have yet to make a tiramisu for him. What a poor, deprived baby.


Truth is, I've made tiramisu before (while at my parents' house over last winter break). It came out decadent and delicious, and quite possibly equal to the tiramisus I've tasted in Italy.


The reason why I've never made tiramisu at home is simple- money. Go and call me cheap, but when a recipe calls for 1.5 pounds of mascapone cheese (up to $4 for a single 8 oz. cup), more than 50 lady fingers, and a ton of heavy whipping cream, tell me you wouldn't do the same and put this pricey cost upon your parents.


Well I guess my boyfriend was craving tiramisu to the ultimate extreme that he was willing to forgo these pricey costs just to have a slice. But once I mentioned to him that there was a minimum 24 hour wait before taste time (which from my last experience I'm capable of attesting to this fact), he slowly surrendered.


In any case, we ended up baking the cookies and the blondies, for which I would bring half to my family in California. My conniving boyfriend on the other hand waited patiently for my return so we could finish up on his request. We spent the entire day preparing this boozy Italian cake, and then waited the allotted 24 hour span for it meld. (And yes, I was a tiramisu nazi making sure he didn't sneak a slice when I wasn't looking.)


When the appropriate time arrived, I cut him a big ol' slice of tiramisu. His eyes watched in amazement as these layers of cake and cream that he really did help create, magically transformed into this famous Italian "pick me up".


The taste was just as delicious as the first time I made it, (maybe even more, because I had a delicious boy helping me create it).

---RECIPE---
Taken from Cook's Illustrated.

Recipe found here.

ina garten's baked mac and cheese - still on a fuckin' mission

I'm sick of being on a diet every freakin' weekend. Although the turkey burgers and chicken salad wraps tasted great, I was just dying for some food food. My boyfriend probably felt the same as well, because he refrained from suggesting that we make healthy food like he used to. We chose to make baked macaroni and cheese today. Before getting started, I made sure that we look up a recipe because I just wasn't in the mood for inadequate mac and cheese. Because I used Alton Brown's recipe last time, I thought I'd stay in the Food Network family but go with my home girl Ina Garten (how I love thee).


While he prepared the roux, I went to the fridge to grab some cheese.


Uh oh... tell me it isn't true... tell me there's more cheese somewhere else! Apparently all I had planned for was 16 oz of cheese (one 8-oz block of sharp cheddar, half a block (so 4 oz) of monterrey jack, and half a bag (so 4 oz) of the Italian mix we used for the chicken parm). There was no way I'd actually less than the amount of cheese a recipe calls for.


Phew- luckily we found some leftover cheese his mom hid in the back of the fridge. This mystery cheese was white in color, had a rind on it, and its texture almost resembled mozzarella. I personally didn't care what type of cheese it was, but it was irritating not knowing what type of cheese we were using. Even after tasting it, I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Anyways, we used the remaining block of mystery cheese, added the milk, and made our beschamel.


Apparently I have every type of pasta stored in my house, except elbows. We found a bag of ditalini in his pantry, which I guess could be an adequate substitution. A few handfulls of breadcrumbs and crumbled bacon pieces were spread on top, and then baked.


After much anticipation, we took the yellow gooey pasta out of the oven. I gathered the silverware and bowls (notice the choice of color- yeah, I was trying to be cute), then scooped out big chunks for either of us. (Hey, I told you I wasn't on a diet here!)


While I did enjoy the meal, (and we both obviously completely devoured our bowls), it just didn't hit the "spot". I think we can all agree that we have this preconceived notion that mac and cheese should resemble the mac and cheese we grew up eating from a box (a.k.a. processed, gooey, fake). Although I will always have a spot in my heart for Kraft mac and cheese, I think we can do better. I think there's a mac and cheese recipe out there that can be deliciously homemade with real ingredients, while still retaining that gooey creamy consistency that the "box" would.


Okay, I'm done with my ranting and preaching. Back to real life. You know what I did later that day though? Got a big tupperware, stuffed it to the brim with mac and cheese, and took it home for dinner (and then breakfast, and then lunch the following day). I just fucking love macaroni and cheese!

---RECIPE---
Taken from Ina Garten

ingredients:
Kosher salt
Vegetable oil
1 pound elbow macaroni or cavatappi (ditalini)
1 quart milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
12 ounces Gruyere, grated (4 cups) (we used our strange mix of random and mystery cheeses)
8 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (2 cups)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 pound fresh tomatoes (4 small) (replaced with bacon)
1+1/2 cups fresh white bread crumbs (5 slices, crusts removed)

directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.
3. Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large (4-quart) pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and stir well. Pour into a 3-quart baking dish.
4. Slice the tomatoes and arrange on top. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, combine them with the fresh bread crumbs, and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

cheesy turkey burgers - my kinda diet food

I'm not gonna lie, but ever since I started baking, I've gained a bit of weight. Yeah sure, in the beginning I was pretty freakin' pissed and completely in denial, but eventually I came to terms with it. It's just a fact that I can't happily live (as in allowing me to bake) and be skinny at the same time- it's just not happening. Anyways, so somewhere among one of my many bitches to my boyfriend about my weight gain, something affected him in a strange way. Ever since then, he's been on his own little "diet" (when honestly, neither of us can be on a "diet" for more than a few days). What sent up red flags in my head was when I was at the grocery store and I asked him if there was anything he needed, and he replied "ground turkey".


Okay, first of all- he doesn't even like turkey (I know this because he so permanently ingrained it in my head from Thanksgiving). Even stranger was that he went out and bought whole wheat thin pita roll things, as opposed to our usual fattening white rolls.


At first I was confused- Like, there's no way this could be my boyfriend. But then I figured it was just "one of those days" and I went along with his little turkey-burger idea.


I knew my boyfriend was hidden under there somewhere once I saw him grab a ton of cheese out of the fridge and assemble a cheese spread for the bread- Now that's what I'm talkin' about.


I understand that prettiness wasn't a factor in creating these burgers (obvi, they're sloppily made and look completely squashed), but I was hoping my boyfriend hadn't forgotten than tastiness was just as important as healthiness.


Now, I'm a decently big turkey burger fan, but these did not taste like my typical turkey burgers. In fact, if I hadn't known these were turkey, I probably wouldn't have been able to guess that.


With that said, these were actually tastier than many turkey burger I've previously had. The meat was a lot more moist and flavorful, and I can't forget about the delicious blue cheese spread we added.


The gooey cheesiness oozed out the sides of the burger the second you took a bite. See all that cheesy goodness? I couldn't have asked for a cheesier burger if I wanted to. For once I can actually say my daily dose of cheese has been fulfilled.


My boyfriend, on the other hand, actually did think it was too cheesy for him (what a disgrace) and ended up wiping some of the cheese off his burger. I willingly came to the rescue and ate all the excess cheese for him. So much for either of us being on a diet...

---RECIPE---