A Small Addition to the Mac-n-Cheese Recipe. I Serve at the Pleasure of the Mighty Orzo.
Excuse me, Orzo, I’m trying to clean the leaves up.
Oh, you’re napping? I’ll come back later. Shall I bring your dinner here or your usual spot?
Very good, sir.
It was fine, I had other things to do. Before we reroofed the house there was evidence of water leaks. Wrinkled paint on the ceiling etc. So I cut the paint away and sure enough. I got this self adhesive wall repair tape which I really like. The package says to wait 24 hours to let the adhesive cure so I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to finish. But pretty neat stuff if any of you ever plan on buying a fixer upper.
I’ve got about 2 days before I’d have to throw out this chicken. Still smells good but that’s all in the timing. It went into a salt brine today for added juiciness and to discourage bacteria growth.
I changed up my mac-n-cheese recipe a little. As I said before, I use a toasted pecorino cheese skirt instead of bread crumbs. I just tastes better and makes me feel all French and shit.
This time I added some halved baby Romas to the skirt. You’ll want to do this in a good non stick or a pizza stone in the oven. It’s easier to scrape off later. You always want to do this first and just cook until it barely starts to brown. Then take it off the heat (medium in this case) and let it totally cool in the pan until plating. I’d say this was in about 1&1/2 tablespoons of oil.
My standard cheese sauce made from roux, half-half, cheddar cheese, salt, nutmeg, and a little sodium citrate to emulsify and keep the roux from breaking.
Yes, I spilt a little milk on the burner.
For the remainder of the cook I’ll just add more room temp milk as needed so always save some to the side.
I’m adding some prosciutto at the very end. Maybe it’s me, but I’d rather hand tear it every time than attempt to cut it. Cutting it always ends up as a mess for me.
A mac-n-cheese rule. Add the sauce the pasta not the other way around. If you add the pasta to the sauce pot you might get soup. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Instead add, meh, we’ll say half the sauce to the pasta and stir. Only add more if needed. What’s left over in the pot will thicken quickly. You can either pout that over top when plating or refrigerate.
Nothin’ wrong with some extra cheese sauce in the fridge.
I like adding peas when using orecchiette. They naturally find there way into the little pockets and I think that’s neato.
Time to check on our cheese skirt. Boom, slides right off.
Cuts easily with a knife and the tomatoes are completely stuck in place. Also neato.
After plating the pasta the extra sauce went on top.
Topped with black pepper and some celery seeds because I’m still on that kick.
I make mac-n-cheese a lot. Because I love it. I read about it. I’m not kidding. I know the history of it. I’ve written an entire cookbook chapter on it.
It’s serious business. Lot’s of rabbit holes to explore. There’s always another version or twist to discover.
