Damn... I'm feeling pretty good n' happy right about now. I just made one hell of a Mac-N-Cheese. Possibly the greatest of my career. I am willing to call it world class. I did some pretty nice things with it.
The method was essentially the Thomas Jefferson Mournay Sauce approach which most people use, but I put plenty of wrinkles in it. Here is the list of ingredients I used:
- Herb infused canola oil (savory, thyme, rosemary)
- Chevre goat milk butter
- A little We Olive extra virgin olive oil
- Italian high-gluten #00 flour
- Spanish hot and smoky paprika
- Himalayan pink rock salt
- 90,000cu cayenne pepper
- Herbs de Provence
- Mustard powder
- 5 cups of whole Vitamin-D milk
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 8 ounces Asiago cheese
- 5 ounces Parrano Unle Kaas cheese
- 3 ounces Manchego cheese
- Half of big red bell pepper, diced
- 2 Shallots, diced fine
- 8 small cloves of garlic, diced fine
- Panko bread crumbs
- Croutons.
- USDA organic Conchiglie macaroni
Basically, I went through the following steps:
- Mixed all my dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl
- Stripped the skins off my cheeses and used my mighty Cuisinart FP-14DC and shred my cheese.
- I boiled my pasta for 10 minutes. I wanted it slightly under-done, or super al dente. I strained it and let it rest. I wanted it moderately dry for the mix in.
- Pulled out my Duxtop 1800w induction cooktop
- Placed my 15 inch Lodge cast iron skillet on top of it.
- Began pre-heating the skillet. I tested the temperature with my laser thermometer to ensure we were hot. Never put cold fat in a cold pan. Everything will stick. Hot pan, cold fat, no stick.
- Drizzled my Canola all over a 455 degree pan, thus reducing the temperature slightly
- Threw in 2 ounces of Chevre butter, and swirled it around to encourage rapid melting.
- Thew in my veggies and Sautéd
- Once the veggies were slightly wilted and browned, I began stirring in the dry ingredients, making a roux.
- Stirred in the milk and cream.
- I kept stirring until I reached a measured temperature of 170 degrees. The laser told me I was at this temp.
- Reduced the the induction power and began stirring in the cheese to melt it.
- Stirred in the Conchiglie pasta, ensuring a complete mixing.
- Placed the entire skillet into a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes, or until I had a nice browning effect on the top.
- Pulled it out of the oven, and let it rest for 15 minutes a bit before serving.
Folks, let me assure you that this is delicious stuff. I like the Parrano flavor so much, I think I will dump the Gruyère I normally use on a semi-permanent basis.
As you know I've been starved out with Gastric Bypass, and I am sure my doctors would have a mild heart attack seeing this comfort food monstrosity I have constructed. I needed this folks. I was pretty ornery this weekend due to caloric deprivation.
