Mac Daddy

Just make this scrumpdilly Macaroni and Cheese and bring to your next summer barbeque. A few months ago, I posted a leaner version that incorporates cauliflower, but this is the whole cheesy deal, soaked with cream and topped with bread crumbs sauteed in butter, courtesy of Saveur magazine. Diet tip for an afternoon barbeque: eat two portions of this and a few less hot dogs.

Macaroni and Cheese

SERVES 6
This grown-up version of a childhood favorite is a great way to satisfy that deep-seated yearning for melted cheese.
8 tbsp. butter 6 tbsp. flour 1⁄2 tsp. cayenne pepper Salt and freshly ground white pepper 3 3⁄4 cups hot milk 4 cups grated cheddar 1 lb. short macaroni, cooked 1⁄2 cup heavy cream 1⁄2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Melt 6 tbsp. butter in a medium stainless-steel saucepan over low heat. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes (flour mixture must foam as it cooks, or sauce will taste of raw flour). Stir in cayenne and season to taste with salt and pepper. Whisk in hot milk, 1/2 cup at a time, and cook, stirring, until sauce thickens. Reduce heat to low and stir in 2 cups of cheese. Cook, stirring, until cheese melts, about 2 minutes.
2. Combine pasta and sauce in a large bowl, and season with salt. Sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese over the bottom of a buttered 8" × 11" baking dish. Place one-third of the pasta in the baking dish, top with 1/2 cup of cheese, then repeat, layering pasta and cheese, ending with cheese, making three layers in all.
3. Pour cream over assembled macaroni and cheese. Melt remaining butter in a skillet. Add bread crumbs, coat with melted butter, and sprinkle over macaroni and cheese. Bake until crust is golden, about 30 minutes. Allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving.

This recipe was first published in Saveur in Issue #18

Cauliflower Macaroni & Cheese

Over a year ago now, a friend of a friend of a friend told us about this recipe where cauliflower subs for cream. It was one of those nights where we'd all had a few drinks, said things like 'oh boy does that sound good' and 'we'll have to try that sometime!' and kept drinking. Well, the FOFOF took my email address, promising to send me the recipe, and she actually did. I just recently found it tucked away in my recipe folder and since Baby had a very successful week on Weight Watchers, I thought that this would be a perfect way to celebrate, practically guilt-free (only 14 Weight Watchers points).

If you don't know about Better Than Cream Cheese from the Tofutti brand already, please discover it for yourselves. It is better than cream cheese. That's my addition to the recipe, as well as the dose of low-sodium Bacon Salt, which indeed has the flavor of bacon, without the fat. I also toss in a clove of garlic and a capful of beer (or white wine) at the end for even extra flavor.

I hope you enjoy this diet-conscious dish and will serve it to your friends, and friends of friends--they'll never taste the difference!

Cauliflower Macaroni & Cheese
Serves 4/appetizer
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups macaroni
1 Tb margarine or olive oil
1 Tb flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butternut squash or cauliflower puree
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
4 oz fat free cream cheese or Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Bacon Salt
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp paprika (or cayenne—or both!)
1/8 tsp pepper
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 capful beer or white wine

Cook macaroni and drain.
While macaroni is cooking heat large saucepan over med heat. Add the oil then the flour and cook, stirring constantly for about 3 minutes, until the mixture resembles a thick paste but has not browned.
Slowly simmer milk and add in, stirring every now and then until the mixture begins to thicken (3 - 4 min). Add the vegetable puree, cheddar and cream cheese or Tofutti - season and stir until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth. Stir in macaroni, garlic, beer or wine and serve warm.

Serving suggestion: top with 1 crushed Saltine per bowl, and a fat-free hot dog grilled with Pam and then sliced.

Recipes Of Our Mothers - Jane Ann Sherwood's Macaroni & Cheese

Our mothers are our hearts. They carried us, gave birth to us for goodness sake, and in our lives, do the best they know how, influencing us more than we can ever know. I hope the moments collected here will encourage and linger about you, in tribute to the most remarkable women, as we celebrate the recipes of our mothers.

My mother just recently ushered in her 75th year. When I was a baby, and we were all considerably younger, she wasn’t simply a stay-at-home Mom, she was a part of a growing force back in the late 60’s and early 70’s: the work-at-home Mom. She would occasionally have my beloved Nana next door look after me when the need arose but otherwise, she and my father made a wonderful childhood for me and my older brothers, while together my parents continued to make a living for all of us.

In time, I did return the favor when it came to care-giving. I was only about 4 or 5 years old when my Mom fell and broke her ankle on the ice in the driveway and was laid up for weeks. I didn’t leave her side for a minute. Mostly I remember that I read her stories as she reclined in the living room, but when she’d nap some afternoons, curious, flibbertigibbety child that I was, I’d seize the opportunity, and fly to the bedroom upstairs to get into her shoes and perfume, the latter of which would wake her as the eau de Jean Nate After-Bath Splash wafted down the stair case. “Peter!” I’d hear her cry, unexpectedly roused. “What on earth are you doing up there?” I didn't know how to answer. I was just a kid for goodness sake.

Aw, Mom, I love you. And I love your Macaroni & Cheese.

Macaroni & Cheese

Serves four

1 box elbow macaroni

1/2 stick butter

4 tb flour

2 cups milk

Italian bread crumbs

Sharp cheddar, sliced not too thick

Preheat broiler and start boiling a pot of water. Melt butter in a sauce pan, add flour slowly and then incorporate milk, all the while stirring to make the roux. Cook macaroni at the same time (about 8 minutes or so after water boils). Drain macaroni and quickly mix together with the roux, while both are still hot. In a lightly buttered oven-safe casserole or souffle dish, layer half of the macaroni with a layer of cheese on top, then add the rest of the macaroni with more cheese on top of that. Sprinkle with Italian bread crumbs. Put in the oven under the broiler until bubbly. It's so much quicker that way, as everything is already cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste, if you wish, and enjoy!