5 posts tagged “cheese”
He's not the only one who's been making some changes. I have been tinkering over the past year with the recipe and I think I have finally found the perfect version. The first modification I made was keeping some of the squash in chunks instead of pureeing it all in with the cheese sauce. I liked the orangeness and richness that the pureed squash lent to the cheese sauce, but I missed the contrast of sweet and salty that you get from carmelized chunks of squash, which was lost in the blended texture. So I settled on a version with half the squash pureed and half roasted in chunks.
Also I experimented with reducing the amount of butter and in the end, I chopped off an entire tablespoon. (OK not that impressive, but considering the original recipe I adapted it from had an entire stick of butter, I think getting it down to half that is pretty good.) Since I reduced the butter, I also had to adjust the amount of flour, milk, and broth in the sauce. But I chose not to reduce the cheese amount at all, because, cmon it's mac and CHEESE.
Over time I decided I liked a little more kick in the sauce so I increased the amount of cayenne by a 1/4 teaspoon.
The final change I made was to bake the casserole in the oven rather than crisping the top under the broiler. I kept on getting little burnt fringes when I did the broiler, and I find that the oven browning is more reliable plus it gives the noodles time to absorb more of the cheesy flavor. It takes a little longer but it's worth it in my opinion. If you roast the squash the day before it's still a pretty quick dish to make.
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
1 pound elbow macaroni
4 Tablespoons butter
1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg plus more for sprinkling
heaping 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 pound sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (about 4 cups)
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 slice of bread - OR - 1 cup panko crumbs
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Slice squash in half and discard seeds . Peel one of the squash halves and cut into 1-inch cubes. Spray the half and the chunks with cooking oil and sprinkle with a little nutmeg. Place the squash half, cut side down, on a baking sheet and scatter the squash chunks next to it in a single layer. Roast for 45 minutes until very tender.
While squash is cooking, make breadcrumbs by putting 1 slice of bread in the food processor and pulsing until it creates fine breadcrumbs. Set aside.
After removing squash from the oven, reduce the heat to 350.
When squash has cooled, set aside the chunks of squash. Peel skin off the squash half and discard. Puree squash half in food processor until it has a smooth consistency. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Salt generously. Boil pasta to al dente - about 6 minutes. Drain pasta and set aside.
Melt 3 Tablespoons butter (set aside 1 Tablespoon) and slowly stir in the 1/3 cup of flour to form a paste.
Off heat, SLOWLY whisk in 1 1/2 cups of milk. Return to medium low heat until sauce fully blends and thickens.
Add pureed squash to the thickened sauce.
Add mustard, salt, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of cheese (set aside 1/2 cup for the topping) and 1 cup of stock, alternating cheese and stock by cupfuls. Taste sauce, adjust seasonings if needed.
Combine pasta, squash chunks, and cheese sauce in a large casserole dish, toss to coat evenly.
Melt the remaining Tablespoon of butter and blend with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese and the breadcrumbs to form topping. Sprinkle mixture over the macaroni.
Place macaroni uncovered in a 350 degree oven until cheese sauce is bubbling and breadcrumb topping is lightly browned, about 20 minutes.
Serves 8, leftovers freeze well if you're so inclined. Reheat frozen portions in a 350 oven for 20-30 minutes or just nuke it.
My mom sometimes made Bisquick biscuits for dinner, often adding dill to the batter, a brilliant touch. But in the morning, the Bisquick was used strictly for pancakes. And so it has been in my house too. Up until recently, that is.
Since The Joy of Cooking revolutionized my pancake making, I no longer keep Bisquick stocked on my shelf. So when I got a sudden urge for biscuits the other morning, I had to figure out how to make them from scratch.
I turned to my trusty The New Best Recipe from good old Cook's Illustrated. They had a biscuit recipe that was fast, easy, and best of all didn't entail any rolling and cutting out of the biscuits - the messiest part of the Bisquick version. While my biscuits were baking, I fried up some bacon and poached a few eggs for a nice breakfast sandwich. A little diced mango was the perfect fruity accompaniment for this yummy weekend breakfast.
This recipe does take a bit of juggling since you are cooking biscuits, eggs, and bacon all at the same time. I have laid out my timeline here in the recipe, but just remember to stay calm and relaxed. If your eggs poach for an extra 30 seconds or it takes you one extra minute to get the bacon out of the oven, it will still be fine.
Breakfast Biscuits
biscuit recipe adapted from The New Best Recipe by the editors of Cook's Illustrated
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, frozen
2 tablespoons salted butter, room termperature
3/4 cup buttermilk or 3/4 cup milk with 2 teaspoons white vinegar stirred in and chilled until thickened
8 slices bacon
8 eggs
1/4 cup white vinegar
4 slices swiss cheese
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450.
Take out 2 cookie sheets. Grease one of them with butter.
Cut 1 stick of frozen butter into 1/4-inch cubes
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse for 6 one-second pulses to blend.
Add the butter, distributing the cubes evenly over the powder ingredients. Cover and process for 12 one-second pulses.
Add the buttermilk or curdled milk, and process until the dough gathers into moist clumps, about 8 one-second pulses.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and quickly form into a rough ball. Be careful not to overmix. Using a sharp knife or dough cutter, divide the dough into quarters and then cut each quarter into thirds. Quickly and gently shape each piece into a rough ball and place on the ungreased baking sheet. (You can premake the biscuits up to this point and store, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator until ready to bake.)
On the greased cookie sheet, distribute 8 slices of bacon.
Place both cookie sheets in the oven. After 5 minutes, rotate the bacon pan. Bake bacon for 3 more minutes, or until done. Bake biscuits another 2-5 minutes, until the biscuit tops are lightly brown.
While the biscuits and bacon are cooking, poach the eggs. In a wide saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water to a rapid boil. Add 1/4 cup vinegar. Begin by coddling all the eggs: place each egg into the boiling water for exactly 10 seconds then remove with a slotted spoon.
Reduce heat to a simmer, then crack four of the eggs into the water in clockwise order, starting at 12:00 and cook for exactly 4 minutes. When the timer goes off, remove them in the same order, using a slotted spoon. Place on a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Repeat with the other 4 coddled eggs.
When biscuits, eggs, and bacon are finished, slice biscuits gently in half and lightly butter the halves. Cut any unsightly straggly bits from poached eggs and place one on each biscuit bottom. Top each egg with half a slice of swiss cheese, and one strip of bacon, broken in two. Place biscuit tops on and serve.
Serves 4
Growing up, Jon had a family tradition of watching the Superbowl with his family and their close friends, the Zuckermans, and Sue Zuckerman always made a cheese ball as part of the football-watching spread. As he is a rather sentimental sort, he asked me to keep up with the tradition by providing a cheese ball for our Superbowl party.
I was pretty much of a cheese ball novice though last year I did have the pleasure of watching Jon and his friend Matt moosh a ton of Merkt's into a massive, colon-blocking, 4 pound cheese ball. But aside from that appetizing demonstration, my cheese ball experience was limited to when I made Julia Child's tablespoon-sized roquefort cheese balls for our Christmas party a few years ago. I figured the recipe wouldn't suffer if I made it into one big cheese ball instead - tiny cocktail hors d'oeuvres are just so not footballish.
The cheese ball was pretty much a success - it was able to hold its own against the nachos, the cheese-stuffed celery sticks, four varieties of coleslaw, two cakes, three kinds of homemade salsa, and 85 bags of chips present in the hearty spread provided by our party guests. There was about a quarter of it left after the party ended. Jon and I collected the empty bottles, threw away the paper plates, and just as we were about to flick off the lights, the valet from the restaurant next door dropped by to hash over the game with us. Though he expressed regret at the Bears loss, and on missing out on seeing all the cute art girls at our party, I think the blue cheese ball was just the thing for a midnight commiseration and pep talk.
There's always next year, right?
Fancy Cheese Ball for Football Games and the Aftermath
adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child et al.
Ingredients:
8 oz. Roquefort or blue cheese
4 Tablespoons softened unsalted butter (not quite room temperature - it should be waxy so you can mold the cheese into a ball)
1 1/2 Tablespoons minced scallions
1 Tablespoon finely minced celery
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon pepper
a few drops of Worcestershire sauce
1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions:
Crush the cheese and the butter together in a bowl; work into a smooth paste. Add the scallions , celery, seasonings and Worcestershire sauce. Mix to combine.
Form the mixture into a large ball. Don't worry if it is kind of soft, it will firm up in the refrigerator later.
Spread the chopped pecans on a plate. Roll the cheese ball in the nuts until it is well covered.
Chill in the refrigerator until party time.
Did you know I'm responsible for an internet sensation? Well, I am. (If something that became very popular on a private internet message board can qualify as a sensation, that is.)
After you go through with planning a wedding you are left with this surplus of project energy and no project to work on. Some turn to scrapbooking. Some take up sewing or antiqueing. Some buy a house or have a baby. Me, I channelled my nesting instinct into the kitchen.
Apparently I'm not the only one, because the Cooking forum is one of the most popular ones on that non-wedding message board. Among the dozens of discussions on cooking, there are threads about cookbooks, kitchen equipment, holiday menus, party food, crockpot cooking, packing your lunch, two virtual cooking workshops, and my favorite, "What's for Dinner." On What's for Dinner, people just write about what they're planning on making for dinner, and share recipes. It's a great inspiration for those of us who tend to fall back on a few old favorites, especially on hurried week nights. It's also where I started an internet sensation.
It
all started with a quest for healthier macaroni and cheese. I had
somehow come across the idea of adding butternut squash to mac and
cheese in order to cut fat and up the fiber and vitamins of this homey
favorite. I couldn't remember where I had seen the recipe, so I tried
googling it and came across this great foodie blog, my madeleine.
Well, the recipe she detailed was far from healthy, with a whopping 10 tablespoons of butter and a pound of cheese. But it did have extra vitamins and fiber, right? At any rate I'm a sucker for the salty/sweet combo, and butternut squash and cheddar cheese fit that bill perfectly. I gave the recipe a try, and it was without a doubt the best, yummiest mac and cheese I had tasted in my life. The cheese sauce is the CHEESIEST ever. The roasted squash is caramely and nutty and sweet. The topping is nice and crispy and golden without being dried out or leathery. And it has a nice, dense texture that holds together well when you serve it.
Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash
- 1 pound elbow macaroni - I use Barilla whole-grain macaroni (the yellow box)
- 5 Tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
- 1 pound shredded medium sharp cheddar (about 4 cups)
- 1 3/4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 slice of bread (I use rye bread because that's what we usually have around, but any kind will do.)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Slice squash in half and discard seeds. Place, cut side down, on a baking sheet and roast for 1 hour until very tender.
While squash is cooking, make breadcrumbs by putting 1 slice of bread in the food processor and pulsing until it creates fine breadcrumbs. Set aside.
When squash has cooled, peel skin off and discard. Puree squash in food processor until it has a smooth consistency. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Salt generously. Boil pasta to al dente - about 6 minutes. Drain pasta and set aside.
Melt 4 Tablespoons butter (set aside 1 Tablespoon) and slowly stir in 1/2 c flour to form a paste.
Off heat, SLOWLY whisk in 2 cups of milk. Return to medium low heat until sauce fully blends and thickens.
Add pureed squash to the thickened sauce.
Add mustard, salt, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper. Stir in 3 cups of cheese (set aside 1 cup for the topping) and 1 3/4 cups of stock, alternating cheese and stock by cupfuls. Taste sauce, adjust seasonings if needed.
Combine pasta, squash and cheese sauce in a large bowl, toss to coat evenly. Transfer mixture to an oven-safe dish.
Melt the remaining Tablespoon of butter and blend with remaining cup of cheese and the breadcrumbs to form topping. Sprinkle mixture over the macaroni.
Place macaroni under the broiler until topping is nicely browned - about 2-4 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Ever since I was a kid I have always wanted to eat turnips and cheese.
When I was little my mom enrolled my brother in this Scholastic Book of the Month club. One of the books they sent him was about this old couple who didn't have much money but they grew turnips and all they ate all winter was turnips and cheese. I know it was supposed to seem like a terrible hardship, but it always made me feel hungry for turnips and cheese.
UPDATE: My mom read this blog and tracked down the book and sent me a copy! (Awww, ain't she sweet!) It's called "Socks for Supper" by Jack Kent. Turns out the couple only ate turnips all winter until they began trading socks for cheese with a dairy-farming couple down the road.
Anyway, despite the genius of Jack Kent, you just don't find those two ingredients paired together too often. My cousin Jorie always thought it was weird when we'd make rosemary roasted turnips for dinner and then afterwards I'd be snacking on a slice of cheddar. But I couldn't help it! The taste of those turnips made me long for cheese - it was like fries & ketchup, bananas & peanut butter, pie & whipped cream. Two great tastes that taste great together.
So finally, I invented/adapted from other sources the following recipe:
Cheesy Turnip Gratin
Ingredients:
1 pound white turnips (about 4 medium)
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup grated Gruyère (about 4 ounces)
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup milk
Instructions:
Put on a pot of salted water to boil. Preheat oven to 350° F and butter a gratin dish.
Peel turnips and cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices. Cook turnips in boiling salted water until crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes, and transfer with slotted spoon to colander. Drain turnips and pat dry between paper towels. (Turnips may be cooked 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.)
In gratin dish arrange one third of the turnips and sprinkle with 1/2 tablespoon flour, 1/3 cup Gruyère, and salt and pepper to taste. Repeat for a second layer.
Arrange remaining turnips over cheese and pour cream and milk over vegetables, top with remaining 1/3 cup cheese
Bake in middle of oven, covered, 30 minutes. Uncover gratin and bake until bubbling and golden, about 30 minutes more. (If it's not golden enough for you, you can add a couple minutes under the broiler at the end.)
Serves one hungry couple.
Finally, satisfaction! My turnip and cheese quest was completed!
We ate it with leftover chicken and rice, and a nice salad. Jon said it was one of my best efforts in the kitchen to date.
