Ever since I've tried the "gourmet" version of mac & cheese at a restaurant, I've been trying to replicate it at home. I first looked at Epicurious, which always has some nice gourmet recipes, but most of the recipes were a bit too far off from the original, and none had the wonderful breadcrumb topping that I enjoyed so much at the restaurant version. I then turned to Cook's Illustrated, which always has great versions of classic recipes (If you can believe it, I actually pay to subscribe to their website, but it's been so worth it to have access to virtually all of their cookbooks online).
In any case, their recipe looked really good, I like how most of the cooking is done on the stovetop, and the technique of starting out with a béchamel sauce seemed pretty solid. However, it didn't really have the gourmet feel I was after. I then decided to put my own spin on the Cook's Illustrated recipe to make it more "upscale". The recipe uses 1/2 cheddar and 1/2 jack for the cheese, I replaced it with 3/4 Gruyère and 1/4 Parmigiano-Reggiano. I figure the Gruyère , which is also a good melting cheese, has a stronger, nuttier flavor than cheddar or jack, and the Parmigiano-Reggiano will give it an additional kick. For the upscale factor, I decided to make truffled mac & cheese. I've had versions that used white truffle oil that tasted great, but I wanted to give this recipe a little extra "oomph" so I decided to use some of my jarred black truffles from A.G. Ferrari. These things are great since they are preserved in olive oil, so I can get the flavor of fresh truffle without having to buy and use a whole one. I still wound up adding the truffle oil anyway for extra truffle flavor (IMO, you can never have enough truffle). Instead of macaroni, I usually use penne or some other tube pasta...one of my favorites is this tri-color pasta I get at World Market which has some other subtle flavors built into the pasta (such as basil and squid ink). I also toyed with the idea of adding some pancetta to give it some bacon-y flavor. However, I figure I didn't want any other flavors overpowering the truffle so I went with the plain ziti pasta and left out the meat...it was definitely worth it as this wound up having tons of truffle taste in every bite!
Mmmmm, mac & cheesy...
I would have been totally satisfied with just the mac & cheese with the truffle, but of course Uly just gotta have some meat, so we kept it really simple and just grilled some steak. Since I was going by Milk Pail anyway for the cheeses (*so* much cheaper than Whole Foods), I decided to pick up some dry-aged ribeye at Dittmers. Uly and I have really been getting into dry-aged meats lately, and it's totally worth the price for the extra beefy flavor. We didn't do anything to the steak but put in a little salt and pepper and throw it on the grill, and it came out great. It went perfectly with the mac & cheese (to me, the steak *was* the side dish)! For our two other sides, we just went with some sauteed mushrooms (deglazed with port) and some green/yellow beans from Trader Joe's (the microwave-in-the-bag kind). At least the other 2 sides were pretty easy to prepare so most of my effort went into the mac & cheese
Dry-aged ribeye steak and port-sauteed mushrooms
Final plating - Mac & cheese, grilled ribeye, sauteed mushrooms, green & yellow beans
For the wine, we decided to break out the good stuff. I gave Uly a half-bottle of Stag's Leap Wine Cellar's Cask23 a while back, and we've been dying to open it. Figure with the aged steak and the truffle it was worth opening this special bottle. It was a pretty young wine (2005) but it was super-smooth. However, it still had some nice velvety tannins and very concentrated fruit flavor. You can definitely tell this was a special bottle. I think it's still a toss-up for me which is the best Cab I've ever had, the Stag's Leap Cask23 or Ridge Monte Bello...maybe I'll have to do a side-by-side tasting to be sure. Since we're total alkies, a half-bottle just isn't enough for a meal, so we also opened up a bottle of Ridge Geyserville 2007. I have to say, the Ridge wines are usually super-smooth to me, but my first sip of it was a bit acidic and lacking in finesse after the Cask23. As we got used to it though, it got much better...probably since the wine opened up a bit. I guess we're probably a bit spoiled when we're drinking Ridge as our "second" wine.
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23 Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
Ridge Vineyards Geyserville 2007
But of course, a meal in the Murillo household is not complete without some cheese. You would think I would be all cheese-d out after the mac & cheese but then this is me we are talking about here. I had purchased some farmhouse cheddar at Milk Pail a couple weeks ago and was eager to finally try it out. I have had a similar-looking English Cheddar before (with the black wax and everything) and thought it would be crumbly, nutty, and extremely sharp as the other cheddar that I loved. Unfortunately it was more on the bland and creamy side so it was a bit disappointing. Oh well, at least it was still good, and I got it on special so I paid less than half of what I did for the other cheese. For our soft cheese, I decided to get some Explorateur. When I feel like a triple-creme I usually get Brillat-Savarin (my all time favorite cheese), and we just got a whole pound of Delice De Bourgogne from Costco last month, so I figure we should mix it up. The Explorateur was not as good as these two (not quite as creamy as the Brillat and not as tangy as the Delice), but it was pretty decent, and definitely still way better by far than St. Andre and Pierre Robert. The big surprise of this cheese plate was actually the Danish Castello blue cheese. It was nice and creamy, and pretty mild for a blue cheese, just the way I like it. I was never much for super-strong blue cheeses like Stilton and Roquefort, so this was just right. It still needed some honey to help it out, but it's now been added to my go-to list of blue cheeses (along with Fourme d'Ambert and Roaring '40s).
Clockwise from top left: Ford Farmhouse cheddar, Explorateur, Castello
Speaking of honey, just had to include this very nice artsy shot that Uly took of me trying to get the last of the honey from the jar to our honey pot. Nice shot, babe! (or should I say honey?) ;-)
Anyway, that was our mac & cheese night. Hope you enjoyed this post! Here's the recipe I use in case any of you want to give it a try:
"Gourmet" Macaroni and Cheese
(Adapted from Cook's Illustrated's Classic Macaroni and Cheese, with slight modifications )
Serves 6 to 8, or 10 to 12 as a side.
It's crucial to cook the pasta until tender--just past the "al dente" stage. In fact, overcooking is better than undercooking the pasta. The recipe can be halved and baked in an 8-inch-square, broilersafe baking dish. If desired, offer celery salt or hot sauce (such as Tabasco) for sprinkling at the table.
Ingredients
Bread Crumb Topping
6-8 oz baguette
3 tablespoons unsalted butter (cold), cut into 6 pieces
Pasta and Cheese
1 pound elbow macaroni, penne, or other tube pasta
1 tablespoon table salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 cups whole milk
12 ounces Gruyere, shredded (3 cups)
4 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano, shredded (1 cup)
1 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tbsp (or to taste) white truffle oil (optional, use preserved or fresh black truffle for a true splurge)
4oz prosciutto or pancetta, chopped and sauteed separately to crisp (optional)*
Instructions
- For the bread crumbs: Pulse bread and butter in food processor until crumbs are no larger than 1/8 inch, ten to fifteen 1-second pulses. Set aside.
- For the pasta and cheese: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat broiler. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in Dutch oven over high heat. Add macaroni and 1 tablespoon salt; cook until pasta is tender. Drain pasta and set aside in colander.
- In now-empty Dutch oven, heat butter over medium-high heat until foaming. Add flour, mustard, and cayenne (if using) and whisk well to combine. Continue whisking until mixture becomes fragrant and deepens in color, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk; bring mixture to boil, whisking constantly (mixture must reach full boil to fully thicken). Reduce heat to medium and simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened to consistency of heavy cream, about 5 minutes. Off heat, whisk in cheeses and 1 teaspoon salt until cheeses are fully melted. Add pasta and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is steaming and heated through, about 6 minutes. Mix in truffle oil/truffles (if using).
- Transfer mixture to broiler-safe 9-by 13-inch baking dish and sprinkle evenly with bread crumbs. Sprinkle prosciutto/pancetta on top (if using). Broil until crumbs are deep golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes, rotating pan if necessary for even browning. Cool about 5 minutes, then serve.
No comments:
Post a Comment