{"id":57,"date":"2007-06-20T01:42:42","date_gmt":"2007-06-20T01:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vivaciouschef.com\/?p=57"},"modified":"2011-09-24T11:44:15","modified_gmt":"2011-09-24T16:44:15","slug":"57","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vivaciouschef.com\/?p=57","title":{"rendered":"Maccaroni & Cheese"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mac & Cheese<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What’s better than macaroni and cheese when you need a little decadent comfort food? What I love about this version is that it tastes rich but it isn’t – and its cheep to boot.<\/p>\n

As I have said many times before, I am on a budget, and as of last week it became a tourniquet. Despite money being diverted to investments in my future, I must continue to eat like a queen, and queens eat cheese (this is speculation).<\/p>\n

Last week, as loan documents were being processed and I was feeling poor, I opened the fridge and despaired that there was simply a bag of cheddar cheese, milk, butter, expired eggs, and a tube of tomato paste. What on earth was I supposed to do?!? After five minutes of dismay – duh. MC. So, off I set, only slightly concerned that the previous three times I had whipped this up I was disappointed at the grainy consistency and the lack of cheesy deliciousness. As it turned out, my lack of ingredients was my savior. I believe that my problem had been that I was trying too hard.<\/p>\n

This time, I finely minced one small yellow onion and one clove of garlic, and added it to my saucier with butter and olive oil, over low heat. While that was becoming translucent, I added some salt, pepper and county dijon mustard – just a little because it intensifies the flavor of the cheese (yum), and a little sweet paprika, mostly for color. After about 5 minutes, I whisked in 2 tablespoons of flour and let it cook for a few minutes. Then I added about 1 and 1\/2 cups of 1% milk and let that come up to a simmer. (This process of combining fats, like butter, with flour is called a roux, which is a thickening agent.) By the time the sauce reaches a simmer, the roux will be at its full thickening capacity; you may need to add more milk if the sauce is too thick. I then added about 2 cups of cheddar cheese and the sauce was done. This whole process takes about as long as boiling the water and cooking the pasta.<\/p>\n

The final product was my best yet – even the leftovers were cheesy and delicious Next time you want Macaroni and Cheese – make your own!<\/p>\n

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