Makin' Mac N Cheese

I had some leftover chunks of Whiskey Cheddar and some Gruyere, and what better use, on a cold, rainy day in Birch Bay than to whip up some comfort food Mac N Cheese! It's also great for Super Bowl Sunday grazing. Alas, I'm not a fan of football; I know, how un-American! However, I do pledge my allegiance to this tasty dish.

Here's what it looks like, and following the photo is the recipe. Perhaps you have your own favorite recipe. Try it with these two cheeses; they impart an added taste dimension you'll enjoy. I haven't a clue who is going to win the Super Bowl, but Mac n Cheese is a sure bet!

Oh, and throughout the recipe, I've shared some personal comments, i.e., using YOUR local farms, dairies for what ingredients you can. The freshness is great tasting, it supports your local economy, and it's probably more nutritious. Win! Win! Win! Hooray! Lucky you, if you know someone who makes their own pasta! Wish I did!

Anyway, after much ado ...

Baked 2-Cheese Macaroni

Serves/Makes: 6         Ready In: 30-60 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 pound elbow macaroni

3 tablespoons butter (from your local dairy if you’re lucky enough to have one that makes butter!)

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon powdered mustard

1-1/2 cups goat milk (recipe calls for cow milk, I just digest goat milk better/lactose intolerant)

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 large egg (got free range?)

6 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded

6 ounces Gruyere, shredded

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper
Note: Buy block cheese and grate or shred it when you use it in a recipe. It tastes soooo much better freshly grated than if you buy it from the store grated or shredded. Trust me on this one!


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the pasta to al dente. Important to not let the pasta cook too long because it’s going to cook some more in the oven.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes.

Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheeses. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese and a sprinkle of paprika.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let it rest for five minutes before serving.

Let's try the blue ... as in Stilton blue ...

3:56 p.m. and I just finished a late lunch—or early dinner—as the case may be. I remembered the Stilton blue cheese waiting in the refrigerator for me, and that I hadn’t continued with the comparison testing of blues I had purchased.

No time like the present!

I didn’t have time to cook anything, so threw together a plate of what I had. I love this about cheese; one can just eat it any time with so many other things one has on hand.

I will admit though, that I had a disaster the other night. I made some red beans and rice—yum—and thought to toss on some blue cheese just to see how it tasted. DON’T DO THIS! I repeat … BLUE CHEESE AND RED BEANS AND RICE ARE NOT A GOOD MATCH!

Well, I learn from my mistakes as well as from successes, don’t you?

Today I happened to have fresh blueberries I purchased from the farmers market in Blaine, had a chilled delicious apple from the Bay Center Market in Birch Bay, a handful of unsalted roasted almonds, and a little bit of leftover sauvignon blanc … AND … a marvelous Stilton blue!

So simple! So delicious! The Stilton was crumbly, but very creamy. It had more of a salty presence than the smokey blue of last week. It is a strong taste, but not offensive. It went quite well with the sweet freshness of the blueberries and the nutty crunch of the almonds, and what doesn’t go with a crisp apple? I happen to enjoy white wine but sauvignon blanc isn’t a typical match for Stilton. Who cares? I could tell that Stilton would go well with a cabernet. I had read it also pairs well with a sweet red, like a port, when Stilton is presented as a dessert cheese.

I was reading in “The Cheese Plate” by Max McCalman and David Gibbons, that Stilton, probably the most celebrated cheese in England, went through a lot of historical hoops, some of which just about caused its demise. Farmstead cheeses were made by dairies, but when the railroad came through, the dairies could ship their milk to other areas where the cheese was made. This was a good and bad development. Good because it enabled more options for dairy farmers. Bad because it was easier and more cost effective to ship off the milk rather than make the distinctive farmstead cheeses, which weren’t protected, and were in danger of being lost to mass production cheese. Also, during the great wars there was rationing and many of the farmhouse cheese makers went out of business. There was also a health scare that erroneously tied in ANY unpasteurized cheese in the Listeria crisis of 1980s. In 1989, the British minister of agriculture proposed to ban the sale of unpasteurized cheeses—the traditional farmhouse ones. A double whammy was that the British supermarkets took the position that they would only stock pasteurized cheese. All these difficulties notwithstanding, traditional farmhouse cheeses survived and thrive in Britain.

Knowing a little of the history of a cheese enhances my enjoyment. This doesn’t stop at historical or political notes, but also the nature of the land itself.

Here’s an excerpt from Julie Harbutt from her “Guide to the Finest Cheeses of Britain and Ireland”:

“Watching cows munching their way through the grasses of an English pasture, one can see why our British cheeses have a reputation for their sweet, creamy, rich and complex scents and flavours. The characteristic sea spray freshness of Cheshire can only be obtained from the rich salt deposits lying just below the surface of the pastures while the distinct herby, slightly metallic blue taste of Stilton is surely influenced by the mineral rich seams of coal and iron running through the rolling fields of Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire. These are the great territorials of Britain.”

Artisan cheese provides an enjoyable experience. It’s more than a food source. It’s travel to distant lands, history, politics, tradition, all wrapped up in a wheel of cheese! One doesn't have to pack a bag, make sure the passport is current, or sit on a plane for hours and hours and hours. Just walk or drive to your local cheesemonger or a supermarket with an artisan cheese department ... and enjoy the journey!