mac 'n five cheeses

my sister's mac 'n cheese is like no other. anyone who's had it talks of nothing else for days. so of course i asked her for the recipe - in the hopes of gaining the same accolades for myself - and learned there really wasn't one. figures. so i interrogated her about the process (béchamel-based, no eggs, always baked), what cheeses she used (always a bit of bleu) and why she avoided others (mozzarella adds little more than stringiness)....then i had to go home and try to come up with my own version. here's what followed:

i chose cavatappi pasta because it's tubular...and twisted...and grooved (thereby tripling its cheese-sauce-grabbing capabilities.) i think i've read somewhere that of the grocery store pasta varieties, de cecco is the best. 

the five cheeses i used this go-round were: fontina, gruyere, cheddar, bleu and parmesan. here they are all grated and crumbled:

i cooked the past al dente...

...made the béchamel (LOTS of béchamel as this dish needed to serve 24 people) and added the cheese (not pictured) and stirred until the cheese melted

 then i combined the pasta with the sauce 

 and stirred (gently)

 this is what it looked like before i spooned the gloppy gooey mess into casserole dishes and topped with buttered panko crumbs:

after 30 minutes in a 350-degree overn, it looked like this:

 

and then it was gone.

ingredient ratios

for every pound of pasta (cooked in salted water), you will need 5 cups of béchamel, and a pound and a half of cheese (i know, i know, just don't think about it.)

to make the sauce: melt 1/2 cup butter and add 3/4 cup flour. then stir and cook over med heat until slightly browned. add 5 cups milk and cook (stirring) until thickened.

add 3 T dijon, 1 t salt, 1/2 t fresh ground pepper and 1/4 t cayenne and stir some more.

now throw in your cheeses, stir until they're melted and the sauce is done!

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simple changes part II

after three (or is it nearly five) years in the same place, we decided to drag a few of the many pieces of "art" down from the attic in order to fill the blank walls in the newly dubbed "guest room".

these are pieces composed by the kids, as well as pieces connected to our past (bedtime rituals, former homes: pinnacle, overbrook, new hampshire and vermont....). 

and although i do believe blank walls are the answer to most decorating woes (in the same way that silence is golden)...these are two - of our fifty-two - that i would now deem, 'better than said gold'.

left

between

right

smells like.....

last weekend i decided to plan out a week's worth of menus and post them on the frig so that ANYone could see what we were having for dinner that evening, and perhaps quite possibly begin the preparation for said meal if their schedule should allow.

(that's right, i'm just now figuring this little device out after 30+ years of cooking for our family of 10)

so i pulled this little jar of goodness out of the frig while gathering the ingredients to make a certain dish from one of the three cookbooks i keep on my shelf at all times - ('hot sour sweet salty') for its inspiration and editorial content alone - thinking it was one of those required (it wasn't. check out the dish it DOES belong to here) when one of #7's friends asked what it was...i told her it was rice powder.
then i opened the jar and we each took a sniff.
what is that??
i told her it contained not only rice, but kefir lime leaves and lemon grass.
but still we couldn't identify that familiar smell.
so i told her to go ask the others.
in less than 90 seconds she was back.

"Fruit Loops! it smells like FRUIT LOOPS!"

sure enough, it does.

ps  the "certain dish" made tonight was a winner. we made the vegetarian version and even our carnivores gobbled it up.

five hours later....

cold udon noodle salad. what your summer supper repertoire has been waiting for....

although smittenkitchen created an abbreviated version of the dish....what's an extra hour when you've already committed to four?

REAL italian wedding soup (am i right?)

picture may follow - but in the meantime, i am merely providing a link to an AUTHENTIC (i.e. tasty) italian wedding soup recipe to the a few million unsuspecting "allrecipes.com" readers who thought they'd found the real deal here (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mamas-Italian-Wedding-Soup/Detail.aspx)

poor souls.

Italian wedding soup

2 T extra-virgin olive oil

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 ribs celery, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 bay leaves, fresh or dried

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 pound ground beef, pork and veal combined

1 egg, beaten

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano

1/2 cup plain bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated or ground nutmeg

6 cups chicken stock

2 cups water

1 1/2 cups dried pasta, rings, broken fettuccini or ditalini

1 pound triple washed fresh spinach or escerole, coarsely chopped

1 egg, well beaten

1/4 cup grated cheese

Directions

In a deep pot over medium heat add oil, chopped carrots, celery and onions

and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Cover pot and cook 5 or 6

minutes, stirring occasionally.

Combine meat, egg, garlic, grated cheese, bread crumbs, salt, pepper,

nutmeg.

Uncover pot and add broth and water. Increase heat to high and bring soup

to a boil. When soup boils, reduce heat a bit and start to roll meat mixture

into small balls, dropping them straight into the pot.. When you are done

rolling the meat, add pasta to the soup and stir. Cover and simmer soup 10

minutes. When pasta is tender, stir in chopped spinach/escerole in batches. Once

spinach has wilted into the soup, whisk in beaten egg with parmesan

cheese, stirring quickly to “whisp” the mixture into the soup. Adjust your

seasonings and serve.

oh the fun we can have....

i was lured into buying a jar (ok, three) of this jam when it was featured on fab.com, one of my favorite websites for daily sales featuring little-known designers and tons of things that are just plain fun (that site alone made stuffing 8 kids' stockings last year a pleasure). sign up now and get started. the stuff doesn't last long.

okay, enough of the shameless promotion of consumerism via fab.com....what this post is really about is even more shameful....BACON IN A JAR. from skillet street food, one of the first food trucks (an airstream trailer, actually) that was started in seattle back in 2007, by cia graduate, josh henderson.

here's how skillet street food describes their product:
"What is bacon jam? Well, we take a big bunch of really, really good bacon and render it down...add a bunch of spices, onions, etc. and let it simmer for about 6 hours, give it a quick puree, blast chill it...take a left turn, and end up in pure bacon heaven.

anyway, this spread is certainly one of henderson's crowning achievements.

it comes in handy when you're craving the addition of real bacon to a dish but don't have the time to fry some up.

i've used it on peanut butter sandwiches, in scrambled eggs, bean soups, salad dressings and of course, on grilled cheese. and the flavor is so intense, it takes only a dollop to get you where you want to go.

get a jar. or three.
and if you can bear to give away just one - do.
you'll be making a friend for life.

cheddar, BACON and chive scones

one of my favorite co-workers (and bloggers: http://meanttobeshared.wordpress.com/) shared this recipe early last week, in an obvious effort to make me jealous since she was planning to make some that very weekend!! being the competitor (and bacon-lover) that i am, i had no choice but to whip up a batch that night - and early morning since i didn't start on them until 10pm and realized there wasn't any heavy cream in the house - so glad i did.

all the ingredients

cutting the chilled butter into the dry ingredients

grated cheddar

add the bacon, cheddar and chives

toss together then add cream (not pictured)

pat into 8" circle on lightly floured surface

place on parchment-lined baking sheet

slice into 8 wedges & brush with heavy cream. bake in a hot oven for about 20 minutes

when i came down to the kitchen the next morning to wrap the scones for transport to the office, i found nearly half of them devoured. took the remaining few to share with "the ladies of the third floor lounge", who so richly deserved them. (even our occasional vegetarian tried one.)

here's the recipe from tasty kitchen.