Reinventing the wheel, or elbow, as it were...

Don't you love comfort food? That's a stupid question, I guess, because if you didn't love it, it wouldn't be comfort food. Well anyways, I don't think I've ever meet anyone who's said "I don't like Macaroni and Cheese." Well except for the instant stuff, but its not really the same thing, is it?

On the way home from Target (I insisted that we go tonight because I needed something essential for daily life, like vinegar or something, but really just wanted to get out of the house for a bit) I was thinking over what I had planned for dinner tonight. I knew Mac and Cheese was on the menu sometime soon as I had all the fixings for it but I wanted something different. Sometimes my Mac and Cheese ends up being a little like pasta nachos which isn't as good as it sounds. I grew with a pretty basic recipe that my mom would make (and we all loved!!!!) that was basically 1. Boil noodles 2. Put said noodles in a baking dish with Cheddar cheese and milk 3. Season to taste with salt and pepper 4. Turn your oven up as high as it will go and try to get it out before the smoke alarm goes off (sorry mom :)

Now don't get me wrong, we would all scarf down the stuff because it was delicious, but I wanted something different. I wanted creamy like Easy Mac but crunchy on top. I wanted the best of both worlds! And we got it!

It involves sauteing some onions and garlic in butter (I wonder how many recipes I can start like this...) and then making a sort of cheesy  Béchamel sauce with cheddar cheese, parmesan and this yummy Dubliner cheese. 


Now you're tasting your sauce and you're thinking, "What is this missing?" 

MUSTARD

And not just any mustard, this Harvest Course Ground mustard. My sister-in-law bought some for some salmon that she made and it thankfully, got left in my fridge. This was EXACTLY what the sauce needed. Along with a little bit of ground red pepper.


This all went in with the elbow pasta (which, by the way, was whole wheat because I'm , you know, healthy and stuff) it was topped with more shredded cheese to give it that melty top and then some panko bread crumbs and a few dollops of butter to make the bread crumbs all golden brown. This is what came out:

I should have taken a picture of the inside but I didn't have the patience. It was very creamy and not at all nacho like. 

For dessert I made these babies (well, I made them last night.) 

Just basic little sugar cookies iced with almond bark and sprinkles. Kind of an imitation Circus Animal cookie, which my husband LOVES. I'll be honest, I sort of like them too. 

NEW Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

1 box elbow pasta (whole wheat if you're into that sort of stuff)

3T Butter

1/4 minced onion

2t minced garlic (or more, I won't judge)

1T flour

1/2-1 C half and half or milk

1 T Harvest Course Ground Mustard

1/2 t ground red pepper

1 C shredded Cheddar

1/2 C Dubliner Cheese

1/4 C Parmesan Cheese

1/2 CPanko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1. Boil pasta according to box until its almost done. It will cook a little more in the oven. Drain and place in a large baking dish.

2. Shred all the cheese and mix it together in a large bowl.

3. Saute onions in 1 T butter until translucent and then add the garlic, saute for 30 seconds or until the garlic is fragrant.

4. Add 1 T butter and let it foam. After that subsides, whisk in the flour and cook until it browns up a little.

5. Whisk in the milk, mustard and red pepper and then season to taste with salt and pepper. Let this thicken up a little.

6. Add all but about a handful of the shredded cheese to your bechamel sauce and stir until its creamy and thick.

7. Pour sauce over pasta in baking dish and stir until its all combined. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top and then sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top. Place thin slices of the remaining tablespoon of butter over the bread crumbs

8. Bake in preheated oven for 15 min or until top is golden brown. Serve immediately.