Macaroni & Cheese

Macaroni & Cheese

Like me, many of you have kids that have macaroni and cheese as a food "staple." It is a dish that never fails to satisfy all of my own children's appetites - ages 5, 11, and 16. There have been whole books published with tons of recipes and tips for changing up the regular packaged mac-n-cheese (macaroni and cheese) products in supermarkets.

One of the key "basics" of any recipe I've attempted with my crew is to make sure the cheese sauce is smooth and melts easily. Velveeta@ is by far our first choice for packaged mac-n-cheese, so I use that brand as my "baseline" as far as sauce goes.

I wanted to find a recipe that would be creamy, delicious, and homemade. Yep, I decided that I'd reached a point in my life where I could use my culinary skills to actually make homemade mac-n-cheese - especially the kind you can freeze and have on a weeknight when the last thing you feel like doing is making dinner!

Here is a modified version of Cook's Country Magazine's@ "Make-Ahead Macaroni and Cheese." (April/May, 2009) I've changed or eliminated some of the ingredients because I knew my own kids wouldn't appreciate them. I've included those ingredients at the end of the modified recipe in case you want to include them.

Modified "Make-Ahead Macaroni and Cheese"

4 slices white bread

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese - grated

1/4 tsp. dry minced garlic

8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter - melted

salt and pepper

1 pound rotini pasta

6 tbsp. flour

4 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

4 cups colby cheese - shredded

2 cups cheddar cheese - shredded

Mix bread, Paremesan, garlic, and 2 tbsp. butter with hand-mixer or food processor until well-mixed. Divide bread crumb mixture between 2 ziplock freezer baggies and place in freezer. Boil 4 quarts of water. Add 1 tbsp. salt and rotini pasta and cook until barely softened - about 3 minutes over high heat. Undercooking the pasta will keep it from getting mushy when ready to bake and serve. Drain pasta and spread out onto baking dish and cool. This will help the pasta keep its starches which helps keep the sauce creamy.

Mix rest of butter and flour into saucepot over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until well-blended. Slowly whisk in broth and cream and bring to a boil. Once it boils, reduce heat to medium and simmer until thick - about 15 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and whisk in cheeses, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper until smooth. It should be a little "soupy" because freezing the sauce will dry it out and it won't be creamy when you're ready to serve it.

Stir rotini pasta into the sauce until well combined. Break up any clumps of pasta. Divide pasta mixture between two pie plates or medium-sized baking dishes. Cool to room temperature - about 1 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Wrap dishes with plastic wrap, cover with foil, and freeze. (These can be frozen for up to 2 - 2 1/2 months.)

When you are ready to take them from the freezer to serve, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove foil from baking dishes and save, leaving plastic wrap on. Microwave baking dish until mixture starts to bubble around the edges - about 7 to 12 minutes. Stir and replace wrap halfway through. Remove plastic wrap when done and replace foil. Bake in oven 20 minutes, then remove foil and sprinkle with frozen bread crumbs you made at the beginning of the recipe directions. Adding them at this point will ensure that the topping will be crisp and not mushy. Continue to bake until crumbs are golden brown - about 20 minutes longer. Cool and serve.

Original Ingredients for "Make-Ahead Macaroni and Cheese" I eliminated in the recipe above:

1 clove garlic - minced - replaced by 1/4 tsp. dry minced garlic

elbow macaroni - replaced by rotini pasta

1 tsp. dry mustard

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 cups extra-sharp shredded cheddar cheese - replaced by 2 cups cheddar cheese - shredded

4 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth - replaced by regular chicken broth

Sandwich bread is suggested in the original recipe

If you have any mac-n-cheese recipes you'd like to share - please share them. I would LOVE to try them!

Happy Cheese Day!!