Wednesday, October 15, 2008


I was thinking of my friend Karen today, and coincidentally, I made her husband’s favorite meal for our dinner: Baked macaroni & cheese.

Though it was warm yesterday, it’s Fall, and Fall gets you thinking of comfort food. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary:

comfort food n food prepared in a traditional style having a usually nostalgic or sentimental appeal
that reason, when you ask people about their favorite comfort food, you get all kinds of answers. Comfort isn’t one-size-fits-all.

Comfort food is real stick-to-your-ribs food; creamy, saucy, topped with gravy. However, it doesn’t always have to be heavy. In fact, there are numerous resources dedicated to revamping comfort food, making it less Your Mother’s Tuna Noodle Casserole, and giving you opportunities to put your own healthy stamp on it. Food Network is constantly running shows aimed at lightening up your favorites, and Cooking Light often features readers’ favorite recipes lightened.

For me, comfort food is synonymous with macaroni & cheese, and the boxed kind just won’t do the trick. Everyone’s got a favorite macaroni & cheese recipe, and usually your favorite is the one you grew up on. That’s just how it is with comfort foods, they bring you the comfort and security of home, in a dish.

This macaroni & cheese is basic. It is a perfect building block recipe for you to add your favorites. For extra sunshine-in-a-dish, try broccoli for some color, vitamins, and crunch. In the mood for Italian? Add diced tomatoes, Italian cheeses, basil, and oregano. Or try peas and bacon for a Carbonara flair. Mexican? Add Monterey Jack and chili peppers to suit your SQ (spicy quotient).

Baked macaroni & cheese
Serves 5
2 T flour
4 T butter, divided
½ t dry mustard
½ t garlic powder
¼ t white pepper
1/8 t nutmeg
2½ c milk
2 c cheese, shredded, divided (I use a mixture of cheeses, it makes for additional creaminess and better flavor)
8 oz medium shell macaroni, cooked 7 minutes, drained
¼ c bread crumbs
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease casserole dish (choose a pretty one that can go straight from the oven to the table, even if you have guests). Melt 2 T butter, stir in flour to make a white roux. Add dry mustard, garlic powder, pepper, and nutmeg. Add milk slowly, stirring the entire time, to make a white sauce. When thickened, stir in 1¾ c cheese until melted and blended. Add cooked macaroni. Stir together to coat macaroni. Melt remaining butter. Mix together with bread crumbs and remaining cheese. Pour macaroni mixture into prepared casserole. Top with bread crumb mixture. (Can be made ahead to this point and frozen or refrigerated at this point for baking another day. If you do this, bring the dish to room temperature before continuing.) Bake 50 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and top is golden.

5 comments:

  1. After attempting to make "Katie's Macaroni & Cheese" at least 3 times, my husband Guy has asked me to stop trying...as he says, "Nobody makes macaroni & cheese like Katie!" When my Mom very suddenly passed away five years ago (!), Katie sent over some individually packaged portions of mac & cheese so that I wouldn't have to think about feeding my daughter Emily -- the dishes were supposed to go in the freezer for those nights when I just wasn't up for thinking or cooking (and there were a lot of those during that time). Well, my husband ate all of them before I could get them in the freezer! Since then, Katie's Mac & Cheese has become the standard by which all other versions are judged. In fact, we've come home and found Mac & Cheese on the doorstep and Guy knows just who has stopped by!

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  2. Funny you should mention Mac N cheese, I was craving it this week. I didn't get around to making it yet, but will this coming week. I may even try Emiril's Seafood Mac N Cheese in the last issue of Everyday Food or the Brie Mac N Cheese sent into Better Homes N Garden by a reader. I'll let you know when I try those and what the verdict is.

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  3. I also made Mac & Cheese last night. I tried Rachel Ray's version with butternut squash puree mixed in to the cheese sauce. It was delicious. AND the kids loved it. Holland detected the cinnamon (I'm not sure how!), but none of them had any idea it had squash.

    Bake the squash cut in half, cut side down with a little olive oil and s&p for 45 minutes or so, until it is tender. Let the squash cool enough to handle and scoop out the pulp. Mash it, mix in a little cinnamon and nutmeg.

    When pasta water is coming to a boil, begin cheese sauce. Melt a little butter in a pan, add about 2 TBSp flour, cook about 1 min. Whisk in 2 c milk. When milk is barely bubbling, whisk in squash. Add in a little cheese (I used ched/jack combo).

    Once pasta is cooked, mix with sauce and place in baking dish. Top with more cheese -- I did more ched/jack and a little parmesan. Pop in oven until bubbly. Ummmm!:)

    Kate -- I love the graphics on your site.

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  4. Did the butternut squash make it sweeter? I always use nutmeg in my white sauce anyway, so I'd probably just skip the cinnamon. I'll have to give it a shot.

    I also used goat cheese in the one I made this week -- I just had a bunch in the fridge -- it made it SO creamy!

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  5. I didn't find it overly sweet, but may have done too much cinnamon if Holland tasted it. I'll have to pay better attenion to that next time.

    I wanted to use gruyere cheese, but didn't see it at the store that morning.

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