It must be the cold weather down here, but I have been EXTRA lazy recently. To be fair, I work, go to school AND cook for my partner and I, so occasional laziness is expected and most often welcomed. I had already decided to make a nice bowl of cereal my dinner when my partner came home and insisted on making his favorite meal, macaroni and cheese, from scratch. FROM SCRATCH! This from the man who could live on pb & j and ramen noodles. He wanted to teach himself to cook something and I would get to eat it. I?m starting to think I married up.
And he did a decent job! I hate to say it, but he used a Rachel Ray recipe for Macaroni and Cheese with Jalape¤os . All was going well too, until the directions basically told him that a roux could be made the same way a slurry is, by mixing it up off the stove and throwing it into a liquid. Thanks, RR. But other than that, it turned out pretty good, considering the only cheese we had on hand was an American cheese and some tasty cheese (Australia?s version of really bland cheddar).
He basically made a roux (a thickening agent), added cream to make a bechamel sauce, and then added cheese and jalape¤os to the sauce. Then he mixed the sauce with cooked pasta (he used rotini), topped with more cheese and baked it. We went out later that week and purchased some quality cheese to give it another go, and this time made a Jalapeno and bacon one and also a chipotle one, each with Colby, aged cheddar, and parmesan. I am always shocked at how easy it is to make many things in the kitchen from scratch as opposed to the package mix way. And I am even more shocked by this new cooking husband of mine. Where did he come from?!
Oh. And now he wants to take a class on wine. I certainly lucked out with this one, folks. ~LTG!
