Cheesy Mac and Cheese

Okay, so I'm pretty sure this is the third Mac and Cheese recipe I've posted. The issue is, each one is a little different. The last one I posted in my post entitled 'Quarantine' made a drier Mac and Cheese. This one will be much saucier. Different people like their Mac and Cheese differently. I like mine to have a bit of a sharper taste than others might like (enter the sharp cheddar and sour cream). The technique I describe below has some good 'general rules' though, regardless of the flavor you like. For example, to avoid separation, use onion powder instead of fresh onion. So make the sauce combine better, reserve some grated cheese out of the initial mix-in and add it afterwards. Cook your butter and flour mixture (called a 'roux') for an extra minute to help cook out the flour flavor. Oh, and this time I listed the actual measurement of pasta - in the 'Quarantine' recipe I suggested half a bag... but failed to mention what size of bag I was starting with! So, perhaps third time's the charm for getting this recipe posted properly?


A Perfect Pot of Cheesy Mac and Cheese:
400 g of elbow pasta, cooked and drained
3 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Salt and Pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
6 tbsp flour
3 c. 2% milk
1/3 c. sour cream
5 c. shredded sharp cheddar (sub in some other sharp cheeses if you want!)
2 heaping tbsp. Cheez Whiz

In a medium sauce pan, melt butter. Stir in garlic powder, salt, pepper, onion powder and flour. The mixture will clump together. Allow it to cook for another minute. Whisk in milk. Cook until sauce thickens, whisking regularly. Do NOT boil - you'll be able to taste the difference if you do! Whisk in most of the shredded cheese (about 3/4 of it) and all of the sour cream and Cheez Whiz. For extra flavor, try adding in 3 tbsp of Steeped's Smoky Apple Bacon Seasoning at this step! Pour sauce over cooked pasta and stir until well combined. Fold in remaining cheese (do this while the sauce is still hot so that the cheese mixes well - otherwise you may get clumps). Pour pasta into a 9x9 square baking pan.
Topping:
1 c. panko crumbs
1/4 c. butter, melted
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp oregano

Stir together panko, chili powder and oregano. Stir in melted butter. Sprinkle evenly across top of pasta.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 - 25 minutes, or until the top is nicely browned

*Note: the picture I posted is of the drier recipe from "Quarantine" which used about 250 g of pasta and 1/3 of the sauce. If you prefer less-cheesy recipes, try that one!

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)

Catching up!

I know, I know, I know... it's been forever since I posted, and I left everyone hanging about that Mac and Cheese I was going to make! I'm a horrible person, I know, but I hope that, in time, you'll forgive me, and we'll be able to move on.

I did get around to making that Mac and Cheese, and it really was epic. I hard to pare down some of the elements of grandeur, but overall, it was a surprisingly elegant meal, considering it was, well, Mac and Cheese.
I used my original Mac and Cheese recipe (you can find in my post "Quarantine") and I stirred in some crab meat that I'd had in the freezer. I reheated the crab in clarified butter first to bring out more of its own distinctive flavor. While I had originally planned on doing a separate cheese sauce of parmesan and goat cheese poured overtop, my parmesan stocks were getting low, so I instead stirred in the goat cheese in place of the sour cream in my recipe. Fantastic results! Actually, I think I might permanently change my recipe to include the goat cheese - the sour cream is a nice touch in a pinch, but the goat cheese is just that much better, you know? Matt was thrilled with the end result and so was I, partly because now I know what to do whenever I have leftover crab in my fridge! (Which happens more often than you might think...)

Besides the Mac and Cheese, I also managed to whip up my first "cake-mix" cake. I experimented in a number of ways (using skim milk powder, fine sugar vs. granulated sugar, etc) and the end result was fine except... I threw in instant coffee to add some flavor to the chocolate cake, and the coffee was so smokey that it made my cake taste burnt. Great. So the cake rose nicely, had a very nice crumb and a deep reddy-brown color, but it tasted like it had smoke in it. Fantastic.

While the cake wasn't perfect, it was a fairly good start, and actually, I had intended on it not being perfect. I'm working on learning the actual effects of ingredients in baking, and so I wanted to see first-hand what certain things would do. While my cake rose nicely, it did sink in the middle. Apparently, that indicates too small of a liquid-to-sugar ratio, so that the sugar couldn't all dissolve. I had tweaked the liquid amounts slightly because I was using skim milk powder instead of milk, but the fine sugar I subbed in was too much for the cake. Actually, fine sugar really shouldn't be used in normal sheet cakes, period. Sugar makes your baking crispy, so the top was too hard instead of light and airy, and the liquid ratio was off so it didn't stay up in the center... just stick with granulated. I was happy with the gluten content, that's the real trick to making mix cakes that you can just throw water, oil and eggs into willy-nilly and still get a good cake. Different fats and different mixing techniques either relax or strengthen glutens, making for either fluffy cakes, or tough and dense cakes. I had to do some special add-ins, but I did pretty well I think.
All in all, it was a fine first attempt, and I'm confident that the second will produce even better results.

I also made eclairs last week! It's been such a long time since I made those! I first made them back in high school and really enjoyed making the pate a choux. There's something so satisfying about stirring eggs in one at a time, and each time you drop one in thinking, "What a goopy mess", but as you stir more you can see it, almost miraculously, transforming into a nice, sticky dough. Funny thing, I made the eclairs because I was low on ingredients in my house and they were an 'easy' plan B. Who doesn't always have flour, eggs, butter and water in the house? True, I needed Matt to pick up whipping cream on the way home so I could fill them (I totally copped out there and didn't make a cream, but they were still yummy!) but the puff itself was simple enough to whip up even though I didn't have a lot of ingredients in the house.

This week I will be developing at least one recipe with the stone ground whole wheat, and I'm still playing in my head with what exactly that recipe will look like. I think a good whole wheat bread will be ideal, but I can't decide if I want to make it a rustic loaf or a sandwich loaf, if I should do exclusively whole wheat flour or throw in a bit of white flour, and whether or not I should make it a plain loaf or an herbed or honeyed loaf. I have yet to see the flour itself, and that may determine alot of those questions for me when I finally do, but until then, I suppose I can just keep tinkering with my regular whole wheat flour here at home and hope for the best - although I just had this beautiful picture in my head of rosemary infusing in a pot of warmed milk with butter melting in it, and now I want to eat that... so I think I'm currently leaning towards an herbed sandwich loaf.

Well, this has been fun catching up, but I really must dash. My crazy-busy life has been the reason that I've been unable to post more frequently, and unfortunately, life still hasn't slowed down that much yet, so back to the grind I guess!

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)

Culinary Missions

I'm undertaking a number of culinary missions over the next week, and I'm hoping I'm up to the task!

Mission #1: Crazy Mac and Cheese
I really should stop asking my husband what he wants for supper. The answer is always either "Baked Mac and Cheese" or "Pizza". If you remember, a month or two (or three) ago I posted a recipe for some pretty decent Mac and Cheese that I had whipped up. The secret was in the sour cream for some bite and the panko for a really good crust. Well, Matt apparently thought it was pretty great because I've had to make it a few times since just to appease him. Apparently he still had not satisfied his Mac and Cheese cravings because when we were out for dinner last month he ordered a Blue Cheese and Lobster Mac and Cheese. Truth be told, it was a totally basic Mac and Cheese (velveeta-ish), just with chunks of lobster in it and blue cheese on top. I wasn't thrilled, but I was inspired. So tonight when I asked my dearest-darling what he wanted for supper tomorrow ("Taco Pie, Oven Fried Chicken or Mac and Cheese), and he answered the way he always answers, I secretly started scheming to make him the most kick-butt bowl of gourmet Mac he's ever had. I have a bit of crab in my freezer (because who doesn't keep crab in their freezer? It's somewhere buried behind the elk heart, the homemade chorizo and the duck) that I'm going to toss with clarified butter before I mix it in, and then I'm going to put in a layer of a goat cheese-parmesan cream sauce under the panko crusting and top it off with grilled asparagus. This will by no means be a healthy entree, but it will be a good one! Hopefully Matt agrees!

Mission #2: Whole Wheat Baking
I can't remember how much I already said about this, but I'm going to be doing some recipe development for a friend. I'm very excited about this particular mission since it will be my first real-world assignment that I'll get real credit for (I've developed recipes before, but I didn't even get to retain rights to them after I finished them for the cafe I was working at). And no, developing recipes and posting them on my blog (that has a whopping 4 followers) does not count as a real-world application. Anyway, the product I'll be playing Iron Chef with is Stone Ground Whole Wheat, but to be honest, I don't use whole wheat exclusively in, well, anything. Ergo, a week of whole wheat baking is ahead of me! This won't be so much to develop actual recipes - that will wait until I have access to the actual product - but moreso it will be so that I can get used to the flavors and minutiae of whole wheat baking. Hopefully this will make my recipe developing go more smoothly (I've only got 3 shots - max! - per recipe, so I'd better be ready for it!)

Mission #3: Cake Mix
This one may not even be relevant, I'm not sure, but my darling cousin and I had briefly discussed producing cake mixes that would make her cake-making business easier. I was planning to break down some really great recipes into a dry mix that would require the standard egg/oil/water additions and nothing more. Furthermore, I had hoped to do that with cake flavors ranging from Red Velvet to Aztec Chili Chocolate and Chai Spice Cake. I think I had best start with a basic white cake to make sure that I've got all of the measurements and ingredients right (granulated sugar vs. powdered sugar, cake flour vs. all-purpose flour + xanthan gum, etc) and then branch out, but I have a feeling that my poor family is going to be eating a lot of cake!

I'll keep you posted on my triumphs (and any epic failures I may have) so you can learn (or laugh) with me (or at me)!

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)

Quarantine

Well, it's Day 3 of the VanderLeek family quarantine. Other than running out on Sunday night to pick up Calamine lotion, I have yet to leave the house since finding out that our 2 year old has Chicken Pox. I must admit, I'm getting a touch of cabin fever. After cleaning and finishing taxes for my friend's business on Monday, cooking some yummies yesterday, and a noticeable increase in the amount of time I'm spending on Pinterest, I'm feeling the need to get out and do stuff. However, I'm hoping to rein in that energy and convert it into practical energy for household duties. Or, you know, more cooking.
My cooking yesterday was in part a restitution to my husband for past negligence. You see, Matt's favorite home-cooked meal is baked Mac and Cheese with a breadcrumb topping, and save for about once a year, I never make it for him. This is partly because I have not been thrilled with the recipes I've used and hadn't found a real 'wow' recipe yet. Usually the flavor isn't quite right, the cheese separates or the breadcrumbs aren't as yummy as they ought to be. Well, thanks to yesterday's forray into the world of Mac and Cheese, I expect to make this much more often now! I started out with a base recipe that I found through Pinterest. Surprise, surprise, I didn't follow the recipe exactly. For starters, the recipe called for whole milk, while I used 2% (quite simply because it's what I had in the house). To compensate for the lost fat, I added about 2 tbsp of sour cream. This also helped make up for the fact that I used medium cheddar cheese instead off sharp - although in the future I'll make sure to use sharp, and I'll probably throw in a sharp white cheese too. The sour cream added such a nice flavor to it that I'll make sure to do that again in the future. One of the nice things about this recipe was it's use of onion powder. I have to say, I really hate onion powder normally. The flavor isn't anything like a fresh onion and after even setting foot in a house that has used onion powder on a roast or something, I smell like it for days. In this dish though, it was the perfect thing. A good Mac and Cheese sauce starts out like all good cheese sauces: a medium white sauce with some grated cheese stirred in. But when you add in chopped onion to that cheese sauce, particularly if you cook it into the sauce before you add the milk, it actually encourages separation. The onion powder, while it's not a substitute for fresh onion, is a great substitute for deeply cooked onions. It was the best way to season the sauce without separating it. Another pro about this recipe was how it reserved some cheese from the sauce to stir directly into the pasta - this made it a cheesier, stringier mix, rather than just a cheese-flavored sauce. Oh yes, and one more bonus point for the recipe: Panko instead of breadcrumbs. I loved the extra crispiness! As did my darling husband who was thrilled with this recipe. I assured him that I would use sharp cheese next time and that was all he needed to hear to make it the perfect dish.
So here's my actual recipe for Mac and Cheese, adapted from a recipe found on Babble.com:
A Perfect Pot of Mac and Cheese:
1/2 package of elbow pasta, cooked and drained
1 tbsp butter
1 small clove garlic
Salt and Pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 tbsp flour
1 c. 2% milk
2 tbsp sour cream
3 c. shredded sharp cheddar (sub in some other sharp cheeses if you want!)

In a medium sauce pan, melt butter. Add in crushed garlic clove and cook over medium heat until softened. Stir in salt, pepper, onion powder and flour. Whisk in milk. Cook until sauce thickens, whisking regularly. Whisk in 1 1/2 c. shredded cheese and sour cream. Pour sauce over cooked pasta and stir until well combined. Fold in remaining cheese (do this while the sauce is still hot so that the cheese mixes well - otherwise you may get clumps). Pour pasta into a 9x9 square baking pan.
Topping:
1 c. panko crumbs
1/4 c. butter, melted
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp oregano

Stir together panko, chili powder and oregano. Stir in melted butter. Sprinkle evenly across top of pasta.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 - 25 minutes, or until the top is nicely browned.

Unfortunately I have no insight into how this tastes the day after because my husband stole it all for his lunch today! But since I made it for him, I suppose that's fair :)

In addition to Mac and Cheese, I also made pretzel bites yesterday! These are, unfortunately, not the fat-free variety of soft pretzel. These are instead the sugar-added, fat-added, extra salty kind of pretzel that you would find at the mall. They were, however, super yummy and I'm ashamed to say how few we have left today.

Since we're still expecting to be under quarantine this weekend, we will not be heading to Calgary again, where we were expected to attend my Grandpa's birthday potluck. It happened to fall on St. Patty's Day - lucky for my Irish grandfather - and there was supposed to be a strong Irish theme running through the whole event (as much of an Irish theme as you can get at a dry event, that is.) Well, now that we're staying home, I plan to make our own merriment for St. Patty's Day. All thing green and Irish will be welcome in our home that day. Some old tricks like Leprechaun Kisses (my parents would draw green lips on us while we were sleeping... right up through high school. We were horrified to fall asleep the night before and wake up with a green sharpie tattoo on our face...), green milk, clover pancakes and wearing green are givens in our household. In addition to that, however, I also plan to make irish soda bread, perhaps some potato patty's and I'm going to see if I can track down some lamb for stew (if the demand goes up, does the price go up or down? While supply is limited I know it would go up, but if stores can order in bulk shipments of something they normally wouldn't, I'd think the prices would go down...). I'm also hoping to make some Irish Cream flavored fudge (Matt looooooooves fudge) and Irish Cream flavored italian sodas.

But until that day comes, I'm still on quarantine with nothing better to do than to browse Pinterest and, sigh, more taxes. Wish me luck.

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)