A Tale of Two Mac n' Cheeses

Jim worked late, so I puddled around in the kitchen until 7 pm, when he woke up. I tried to recreate Fleming's mac n' cheese, and I was semi-successful. I started with a simple roux, whisking EVOO, a tbsp of butter, and 3 tbsp of flour together for a few minutes before adding in a cup and a half of warm whole milk. I melted in 2 cups of sharp white cheddar and then a 1/2 tsp of pureed chipotle in adobo and then added the macaroni. I thought I cooked up a pound of mac, but I must have calculated incorrectly, because there wasn't enough sauce to go around. So I added as much macaroni as I thought the sauce could handle and then poured it into the baking dish, topped it with panko and dabs of butter and baked it for 30 minutes before briefly broiling the top.

While it baked, I turned the leftover macaroni into the original mac n' cheese recipe, which was regular sharp cheddar and a cornflake crumb topping. I splurged with the remaining 1/2 cup of whole milk from the pint I bought and added a bit of nonfat milk as well.



I was pretty happy with the results, although I don't think I needed to bake it all that long. Or else there was too much pasta. I'm not sure, but the sauce wasn't too sauce-y like at Fleming's. Jim said it tasted like a lower fat version of the stuff. At any rate, it was pretty good. Jim ate a ton of both creations. Crazy boy.

Today I bought a box of puff pastry. As in, a massive box, with 4 boxes inside! Call me crazy, but it was such a good deal that I couldn't pass it up. I haven't the slightest idea what all I'm going to make with it, but in case I need the stuff . . . well, I've got it. Maybe this will force me to try Giada's timbale.

Oh, and Happy Tax Day! It really is, since I don't owe (much to my surprise). In fact, I'm getting almost $1500 back, not including that $600 break. And I think I'm successfully fighting my cold.