Mac and Cheese Submission

A couple weeks ago I was given the proposition to guest star on another foodie's site.  After e-mailing back and forth, the idea of a cook-off came out.  Since it isn't possible to compare fish to cake, mac and cheese was selected to be the theme.  Contest rules can be found here.  I'll post the official voting link later, so be sure to come back and help me obliterate the competition!

I honestly don't remember the last time I had mac and cheese.  I watched someone else eat it awhile ago, does that count?  To the best of my knowledge, mac and cheese involves noodles, cheese sauce, and possibly an egg in the event of baking.  I know how to boil water and make noodles.  Know how to make cheese sauce.  Good start.

It may look small, but it still weighs five pounds and retains heat very well.

Since I don't want my product to run all over the plate, I decide to bake the mac and cheese.  For this I have the perfect vessel- Mario Batali's rectangular dish.  Some of you may know it as the most overpriced, least useful dish out there.  I snagged it on sale at Amazon for $12.  After six months of ownership, it finally has one perfect use.

It may only be 2-3 inches wide, just enough to fit saltines in, but it retains heat well and will cook my mac beautifully.  This should also stop me from cooking too much of a not so healthy recipe.

The next part to figure out is, how to flavor the dish.  I get dragged into doing a Mexican mac and cheese because I still have chihuahua cheese leftover from the nachos.  There is also always chorizo hanging out in the fridge.

There is one special ingredient, that I don't have on hand, habanero peppers.  It can be difficult to find an excuse to use these because they are damn hot.  I can also say, from personal experience, they are the most dangerous pepper to get rubbed into your eye. 

Just cut slits into the beauty, so there can be a window for flavor to escape

Past the insane heat, there is a beautiful flavor.  I'm counting on the bechamel and chihuahua cheese to cut through the heat.  The pepper is potent enough, that I don't need, or want, to dice it and fold into the dish.  Just need to make slits into the red beauty, and let the flavor steep out.  10 minutes with the bechamel should be fine.  Let's get to it.

Preheat the oven to 350 Dg.  On burner one I start boiling water for the noodles.  Burner two starts melting butter in a saucepot.  Burner three is heating up to cook the chorizo.

Once the butter is melted, I add an equal part of flour, and stir to make a roux.  The longer the roux cooks, the darker it becomes.  While it may seem counter intuitive, a blonder roux has more thickening power than a dark roux.  For this dish I leave it as blonde as I was in 5th grade, give or take a year (this was before I had eyebrows).

With the roux done, I add milk, little salt, pepper, marjoram, and the slitted habanero.  Proper amount of milk is easy to remember- if the roux is 1 TBSP each of butter and flour, then add 1 C of milk.  If the roux ix made of 2 TBSP each of butter and flour, then add 2 C of milk- the trend continues infinitely.  The mixture comes to a simmer, then hangs out for 10 minutes.  By this time, the water has reached a boil.  I salt the boiling water, and dump in the pasta.  The chorizo is also done at this point, so I pour that off to the side, wipe the pan with a towel, and throw some butter in to make breadcrumbs.

The spoon test not only shows the proper thickness, but allows an opportunity to taste.

While the butter is melting, I add garlic powder, chili powder, oregano, salt, and pepper.  Once the butter has melted, I toss breadcrumbs in and brown them.  Put them off to the side.  At this point, the pasta is almost al dente, and I need to start adding cheese to the bechamel.

First, it's time to check the bechamel to make sure it's a good consistency.  All it requires is the back of a spoon.  I turn burner two down to low, because I want to be careful not to break the sauce.  Since I'm impatient, I grate the cheese so it will melt quickly anyway.

The noodles are perfectly cooked, so I drain them over the sink and then pat them down with a paper towel.  I want to make sure there is no water creeping into my mac, ruining the integrity of the cheese sauce.

I bring the rectangular dish to the forefront.  Lay half of my noodles into the dish, and then half of the cheese sauce.  Top it with all of the red, delicious, spicy chorizo.  Then the rest of the noodles top that, followed by the rest of the cheese sauce.  Breadcrumbs follow, and into the oven for 30 minutes.

The dish comes out with a crispy, bubbly top, and a spicy, cheesy filling.  Noodles are still to the tooth, and the chorizo runs like a river through it.

Fresh out of the oven

Cross section of my mexican mac and cheese

Update on Sunday, January 18, 2009 at 8:06PM by Stash

In short-

• A generous 1/3 lb of Chihuahua cheese, shredded
• 1 habanero pepper (2 for the bold)
• 1 TBL butter for bechamel, 3 more for breadcrumbs
• 1 TBL flour
• 1 C skim milk for bechamel
• 1 TBL marjoram for bechamel
• 1/2 pound macaroni
• 1/3 C breadcrumbs
• 1 TBSP chili powder, oregano, garlic powder, and cumin (each) for breadcrumbs
• 1 link (7-8 oz) chorizo

1. Preheat the oven to 350 Dg.  Set a pot of water to come to a boil for pasta.
2. Melt butter for breadcrumbs in a saucepot.  Start cooking chorizo on another burner.
3. Once the butter melts, add flour and stir to make a blonde roux (1-2 minutes).
4. Once the roux is done, add the milk, marjoram, and habanero (slitted)
5. The water should be at a boil by now, throw the pasta in.
6. Pull the chorizo off and add remaining butter to the pan.
7. Once butter is melted, add breadcrumbs and seasonings.  Cook for 2-3 minutes.
8. Integrate cheese into sauce.
9. Once the pasta is al dente, drain.  Blot with a paper towel to make sure there is no water.
10. Place half of the noodles in the serving vessel, then half of the cheese.  Place all of the chorizo in the dish.
11. Next top the dish off with noodles, and remaining cheese sauce. 
12. Add breadcrumbs, and bake for 30 minutes.
13. Devour.

Comments

[Boxxx]

Deep picture.

[Joie de vivre]

Oh man, that's some serious comfort food. Serious.

I missed your comment on my site, sorry. As for picking papayas, in Hawaii, it's easy. They are yellow, soft, and there is crystallized sugar seeping out of the good ones. Getting them from someplace other than Hawaii they fall prey to what happens to a lot of other good produce, picking before ripe to ensure good travel. So I suppose my advice is to plan a trip to Hawaii to get good papaya. Simple. :)

[Chef E]

That is some serious looking mac and cheese, and I am with you I have not had it in so long, since kids were little and they OD me on it! What fun a challenge...Someone offered me a 'Cup Cake Challenge'...what was up with that...I rarely bake outside of the holidays...

I highlighted you in a recent a blog...my hubby brought home 'Delicata' Squash and did not know what they were, I almost fell over, since you had made them...now I will see what I can do with them!

[Aashay Desai]

Where's the "in short"? :(