Mommy's five cheese mac

I made Betty Crocker's mac and cheese recipe last night with some classic Angel modifications. I don't have the recipe with me, and I didn't measure as I cooked. So this is a post based on memory.

It tasted incredible. The original Betty Crocker recipe is probably easy to find via the Betty Crocker label under this entry.

I started with about three tablespoons butter melting over medium-high heat with about two tablespoons chopped chives that I froze from my herb garden last summer. After three minutes of hearty swirling, I added about three tablespoons flour, trying not to let it degrade into a solid flour dumpling.

I added some fresh ground pepper and sea salt. Then lowered the heat to extremely low and added one cup heavy cream.  (I discovered I had no milk in the house.) I added a pinch of nutmeg. Once my flour and cream mixture had blended, I added three cups of plain soy milk. (And I am completely aware of how silly it must seem from a culinary perspective to have heavy cream and soy milk in the same dish. I am a big believer in "use what you got" cooking.)

Once that blended, I added the cheese. I probably used four ounces of velveeta (a gift from a friend), three ounces cheddar, and three or four ounces of mozzarella. Then I added the remaining fresh spinach I had on hand (about one cup, ripped into small slivers) and about a cup of frozen peas (again what I had on hand.) I wish I had some broccoli, but I didn't.

I made 16 ounces of small elbow noodles and it made two small casserole dishes full. Before baking at 375 for 30 minutes (and then cooking at 400 just to brown the top), I sprinkled each liberally with grated romano and then shredded asiago.

Fabulous. Truly fabulous. And probably a good thing, since it looks like my cooking might eliminate dairy for the next month to help with the fluid in my daughter's ears. I can survive without milk. Cheese hurts, but I can do it. How on earth am I going to cook without butter? I have a plan...

Crazy Carrot 'Taters

Comfort food with a twist...

On the plane to France I had a special purée of potatoes and carrots. I liked it. So, tonight when I was faced with some potatoes at the end of the line and a plethora of carrots, I decided to mash them all.

• six potatoes, sliced and cooked (skins still on)
• 1 pound carrots, cleaned and cooked
• About 1/2 to 3/4 cup heavy cream (decadent I know, but I ran out of milk)
• 1 teaspoon organic four color peppercorn
• 2 containers of Papa John's garlic sauce

The cream and garlic sauce probably contradicts the healthfulness... but they were yummy.

Two weeks! (and Paris)

It's been two weeks since I wrote in this blog, in part because of my trip to Paris. Ah, what culinary delights. I'm going to tease you now, by sharing some of my adventures and starting with my first lament.

Why can't Americans make a decent breakfast pastry? And a good cup of coffee? Starbucks exists in France now, and that confounds me. Why on this green Earth would you need Starbucks in France?  In the land of warm croissants, brioche, pain au chocolat, pain au noisette, pain au raisin, brioche au chocolat... Really, Starbucks?

Today I attempted my own café crème. My research suggested a tablespoon of warm cream in coffee brewed like espresso would do it. I pulled the cappuccino machine out of the basement and gave it a thorough cleaning. Then I prepared some Trader Joes whole coffee beans via the grinder. I measured out a guess of how much coffee I would need and brewed some Trader Joes coffee in my Krups machine. I warmed up some heavy cream, spooned it into demi-tasse cups and added the coffee and sugar.

It was good, but it felt thin. I'll keep trying.

Before I reflect more on Paris, I have to let you know I have completed two shifts at the Target café, my new part-time job. I purchased two of the turkey clubs I made and served with leftover Asian-style salad from dinner last night. Our Target is a "PFresh" which means it carries groceries and fresh produce but isn't a full SuperTarget. My employee discount is 10% and as soon as I get my Target Debit card, I'll get an additional 5%. This is cool news since some of the "splurge" items we like (like our blueberry cobbler coffee) are available at Target.

Avocado salad chez Célia's grand-mère

But on to food... in Paris. Some of these meals you will see me try to replicate. Like Célia's grandmother's avocado salad. I believe this is a vegan dish, if the recipe they told me is complete. It was very simple: avocado cut in chunks and a dressing of oil, vinegar, mustard and parsley. Good stuff. Really good stuff. I bought avocado and an Archer Farms lemon dijon mustard to try and do this.

frog with escargot in the background. I had already eaten one leg.

Something I won't be replicating really soon is my "tourist dinner" from Saint Michel. I ate escargot in this fabulous green sauce, frog, and rabbit in mustard sauce.

Pot au feu, so tender...

I would love to make pot-au-feu as succulent as Célia's grandmother prepared hers, but I have always viewed this as a dish for real chefs with lots of meat products that I'm not ready to deal with.

We'll call that post one from France. My next post will have to recount the ethnic foods I enjoyed.

Four Cheese Vegetarian Crôque Monsieur

Ah... finally!

Adapted from Ina Garten's Barefoot in Paris:
Angel's four cheese vegetarian crôque monsieur

• 12 slices homemade wheat bread (each about half the size of store-bought bread)
• six slices Morningstar vegetarian bacon
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons unbleached white flour
• 2 cups hot heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground four color organic pepper
• pinch nutmeg
• 2 cups shredded swiss cheese (I got French Entremont)
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar
• less than 1/4 parmesan (I ran out)
• 1 cup shredded smoked gouda

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Melt the butter over low heat and add the flour all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon for two minutes (is it supposed to end up as a lump? Because mine does.) Slowly stir in all the milk (oops I did mine fast) and whisk until sauce thickens (mine did fine, even if I neglected the subtle nature of the instructions).

Remove from heat and add salt, pepper, nutmeg, parmesan, 1/4 cup cheddar, and 1/4 cup swiss.
Stir until melted and set aside.

Toast the bread about five minutes on each side in the oven.

On the bottom halves of the sandwiches, pile 1 tablespoon sauce, about a tablespoon shredded cheese (at this point I mix all remaining the cheeses together), one slice vegetarian bacon (folded), one more tablespoon cheese sauce, then the lid, one more tablespoon sauce, then a little pile of cheese.

Return sandwiches to the oven until bubbly and browned.

Prepare some frozen peas and cauliflower and top with leftover cheese sauce. The remaining cheese sauce can be refrigerated and used for a killer alfredo sauce, or more sandwiches, or a really decadent fondue.

Peorogies and vegetables in white wine cream sauce

Forgive my lack of specifics because this isn't a recipe "high caliber" enough for the world...

Tonight, I took Wegmans Spinach Feta peorogies, boiled them, dried them, and then fried them in butter and extra virgin olive oil. I put them in the oven to keep them warm and in the skillet I combined approximately:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoons garlic pepper
• 1 teaspoon it's a dilly
• 1 teaspoon parsley
• less than 1/4 cup bordeaux

When I had that stirred into a nice consistency, I added about two cups cauliflower, carrots and broccoli. Then I poured all that over the peorogies.


Stir

Cauliflower Spinach Gratin

Ah, Wegmans... This week we're making Wegman's Cauliflower Spinach Gratin again. Once again, I deviated from the recipe (I don't use their Alfredo sauce but make my own sauce with basil, heavy cream, organic ranch dip mix, and butter).

Fresh cauliflower, about 8 ounces of frozen chopped spinach...

I added about 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg to the top of the gratin and added some romano cheese and garlic powder to the breadcrumbs.

And of course, today I baked it in my Le Creuset skillet.

The original post for the gratin is here:

http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2009/11/steak-au-poivre-with-cauliflower.html

or click on Wegmans or cauliflower.