Macaroni and Cheese

I did not grow up with homemade macaroni and cheese, and if it was part our meal it was from a box.  My father preferred potatoes over noodles-- a common side dish was thickly sliced potatoes cooked in a cast iron pan slicked with a good amount of oil and cooked until softened.  
My husband's desire for this dish opened my eyes to this wonderfully delicious dish. It symbolizes comfort food in my home. 

Topping

4 slices sandwich bread or whatever kind of bread you would like to make into crumbs ( I use stale dinner rolls, wheat bread, etc.) It measures around 1-1/2 cups.

2 T butter, melted

Put bread in a food processor and pulse until bread breaks down to fine crumbs.
Add butter and pulse until combined.  Set aside.

Macaroni and Cheese

1 pound elbow macaroni

6 T butter

1 medium pressed garlic clove

1 t dry mustard

1/4 t cayenne pepper

6 T flour

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

3 1/2 cups whole milk

16 ounces extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded 

8 ounces mild cheddar cheese, shredded 
or any cheese combination that suits your tastes
Salt and Pepper to taste

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat to 400 degrees Farenheit. 
Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a dutch oven over high heat. 
Add the macaroni; cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente. 
Drain the pasta and leave it in the colander; set aside.

Wipe the pot dry if still wet. Add the butter and return to medium heat until melted.
Add the garlic, mustard, and cayenne; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. 
Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until golden, about 1 minute. 
Slowly whisk in the chicken broth and milk; bring to a simmer and cook, whisking often, until large bubbles form on the surface and the mixture is slightly thickened, 5 to 8 minutes. 
Off the heat, whisk in the cheeses gradually until completely melted. 
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the drained pasta to the cheese sauce and stir, breaking up any clumps, until well combined. 
Pour into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish and sprinkle with the bread crumb topping. 
Bake until golden brown and bubbling around the edges, approximately 20 minutes. 
Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

This dish freezes well. Defrost and cook as directed.

Ricotta Cheese

My family husband is not a big fan of ricotta cheese and its grainy texture which comes from the industry's cost effective standard of adding gums and carrageenan thickeners instead of the time consuming separating the whey from the cheese.  After a little research I discovered that ricotta could be made at home without the addition of rennet, citric acid, lipase or the use of any other special cheese making equipment other than cheese cloth.  I was inspired by a lasagna my sister ate while traveling in Italy.  It wasn't the lasagna I grew up on where the portion is thick with layers of ricotta, sauce, meat and noodles which I do like but it is an all day affair to make the giant American version of lasgna.

Craving lasgna after I saw my sweet sister's delicious photo, I decided to make the ricotta cheese and use it on a quickly composed lasagna for dinner.  We spread the leftover ricotta on crackers, bagels and toast later in the week.  Its consistency was like cream cheese and it was very mild in flavor.  I imagine that the flavor would be more robust if local milk, goats milk, or raw milk were used in the recipe.  For me, it felt like a real accomplishment making homemade cheese even if it was so easy to make.

Ricotta Cheese

Makes 4 cups

1 gallon whole milk

1/8 teaspoon salt

¾ cup fresh lemon juice

Pour the milk into a large, nonreactive pot and season with salt.

Heat the milk to 190º (use a candy thermometer), stirring it every few minutes to keep it from scorching on the bottom.

Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice. Stir slowly until you see curds beginning to form. (The curds form quickly after the addition of lemon juice).

Let the pot of curds and whey sit undisturbed for 5 minutes.

Double line a colander with cheesecloth and place it over another bowl to catch the whey.

Pour the curds and whey into the colander and let the curds strain for at least an hour,

then discard the whey.

Store in an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.

I served a little extra ricotta on the side - yum.

The Inspiration - My sister's lasagna in Northern Italy

Heat milk to 190F

I hung my cheese as it still seemed wet after the 1 hour in the strainer. 

Pasta with Vodka Sauce

I love this recipe not only because it tastes wonderful but because it is so quick and easy to make.  On those nights when you haven't even thought about dinner, or weeks when you never got around to planning out, even loosely, what will be on the menu for the week, but you still have hungry faces looking for at you for sustenance - make this dish. It is homemade and delicious and ready in minutes.  If you don't have fresh basil substitute with dried basil just add it when the tomatoes go in.  I have even made this without the cream or half and half as I didn't have it on hand with decent results.



Pasta with Vodka Sauce
Serves 4
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 to 3 garlic cloves - minced
3 shallots - minced
1 cup of vodka
3/4 cup of chicken stock
1 can of crushed tomatoes 28 oz
Pinch of Italian spice mix
Salt and Pepper 16 oz of grooved tubular pasta
1/2 cup of heavy cream or half and half depending on the richness you prefer
25 fresh basil leaves cut chiffonnade style or torn.
If you have a leftover rind end of parmesan cheese (I store mine in the freezer to use to enrich sauces and stews) add to the simmering sauce.

In a large sauce pan on medium add oil garlic and shallots. Saute for 3 to 5 minutes, do not brown.
Add vodka and reduce by half.
Add chicken stock and tomatoes.
Add dry spices if using.
Bring sauce to boil and reduce to simmer.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cook pasta while sauce simmers.
Stir cream into sauce and bring to boil and remove from heat. Toss pasta with sauce and basil and grated parmensan cheese.

Quick and Delicious Red Sauce

     Growing up, a big pot of spaghetti sauce bubbling away on the stove, as we called it, was a real treat that I looked forward to with great anticipation.  It was an all day event to make spaghetti sauce.  My mother would use the largest pot in the kitchen and, at first, when I was very young she would use supermarket canned tomatoes then she used canned tomatoes that she and my dad put up then they went through  a period of freezing the bountiful tomatoes from the garden.  I don't remember the base but I believe it was onions and garlic without the carrots or celery. My mother put in a lot of spices, meatballs and sausages. The sauce would cook all day on the back burner where it would bubble up like the tar in the tar pits on my favorite show Land of the Lost. The sauce was thin bodied but chunky with tomatoes, onions and meat and always had a little pools of slick fat on top when it hadn't been stirred for a while. My parents always served it with spaghetti, and that shake cheese in the green can. 

    My mother served a spaghetti dinner every other month or so,and even less during the the time period that my Grandmother served her Saturday spaghetti dinners.  Eventually when I was a teenager and the arrival of ready to use pasta sauce on the market the original spaghetti dinner became even more rare. 

    Now, I serve pasta to my family often. Early in my adult life, I relied heavily on jarred sauce with the "special occasion" long cook pasta dinner. With my quest to clean up my family's diet moving away from prepackaged foods, I have found an excellent go to sauce. When I am at a loss over what to make for dinner and I need something quick, easy, nutritious and delicious - this is the sauce recipe I use.  This recipe uses basic ingredients found in any pantry. While fresh basil is best, dried can be substituted for a small downgrade in fresh flavor.  Even on our latest nights I can fire this sauce up and have a meal in 45 minutes or less.

Red Sauce

Makes enough sauce for 1 pound of pasta

1 onion grated on the large hole of a box grater

3 tablespoons of olive oil

½ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon dried oregano

3 garlic cloves pushed through a press

½ teaspoon natural sugar

28 oz of crushed tomatoes (use chunkier version if you prefer the texture)

3 tablespoons basil leaves cut chiffonade style

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in medium heavy bottomed pot, add onions and their liquid and saute until soft and lightly browned.

Add salt, oregano and garlic cook until fragrant.

Stir in tomatoes and sugar and cook for 10 minutes.

Salt and Pepper to Taste