Having Mac 'n' Cheese at our house is very important. While I don't necessarily have a problem with "Blue Box Mac 'n' Cheese", as our ruffians call the Kraft kind, I'd take a good homemade recipe over boxed anytime! A few years ago, Mr. Blue Eyes' parents gave us Nigella Lawson's Express Cookbook, and her Macaroni and Cheese has made it to our "Favorites" list. Of course, being an expert chef, her original recipe calls for only the best ingredients. I am a mom of three and don't always have "the best" on hand, so we've done some tweaking. I'll give you Nigella's (because she and I are on a first-name basis. *sputter, cough* Excuse me!) ...Ms. Lawson's original recipe first, then our TWEAKED version.
Nigella's Original Version
8 oz uncooked Macaroni
2 Cups coarsely chopped mature Cheddar or Leichester cheese, or a mixture of both
1 Cup Evaporated Milk
2 eggs
Grating of Fresh Nutmeg
1. Preheat the oven to 425 F.
2. Cook the macaroni according to the package instructions, drain, and put it back into the pan.
3. While the pasta's cooking, put the cheese, evaporated milk, eggs, and nutmeg into a food processor and blitz, or put them all into a bowl and mix by hand.
4. Pour the mixture back into the pan with the macaroni and stir well. Then pour it all into a 10-inch-diameter shallow dish.
5. Bake 10 - 15 minutes until it is bubbling and blistering on top.
Tweaked Version
8 oz uncooked macaroni
2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 Cup Milk
2 Eggs
Pinch of Ground Nutmeg
Salt and Pepper to taste
1. Preheat the oven to 425 F.
2. Cook the macaroni according to the package instructions, drain, and add to a shallow casserole dish.
3. While the pasta's cooking, put the cheese, evaporated milk, eggs, nutmeg, and salt and pepper into a bowl and mix.
4. Pour milk/cheese mixture over the macaroni and incorporate well into the noodles.
5. Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes, or until it is bubbling and blistering on top.
~Kara
This is a Thayn family favorite, so I can vouch for the awesomeness of this mac and cheese. We use a greased cast iron skillet pre-heated in the oven to cook this. The cast iron gives the edges of the mac n' cheese a wonderful crunchy brown edge. If you are wary of the nutmeg, don't be....it's the secret ingredient! We also like to add a little extra sprinkling of cheese on top.
ReplyDeleteI've been looking for a good home made mac & cheese! This will be the first one I try. =)
ReplyDeleteI think this is one of my favorite dishes I've had at your house (as evidenced by my cleaning my plate as well as Helen's :).
ReplyDeleteOk, I have to comment again...guess what we had for dinner tonight??! And, as just as Aubrey said, all of the clean plates at our house were evidence, as well! YUMM!!!
ReplyDeleteI accidentally used a whole 12oz can of evaporated milk and it turned out just fine. I was thinking about adding some broccoli or chicken next time...have you ever tried any add-ins? (Not that it needs any...I just love hearty pasta dishes) Thanks for the delish recipe!
Jamie, sorry for the late reply. I haven't tried add-ins while it was cooking, but Mr. Blue Eyes LOVES adding his peas to it! I think broccoli sounds WONDERFUL!
ReplyDeletei LOVE peas in my mac and cheese!
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