Monday, September 29, 2008

How to Fix Mac and Cheese

I made some Mac and Cheese on Friday and it was...weird. The recipe was called Cheesy Macaroni and Ham. I omitted the ham, but I should have omitted a couple of other ingredients as well. There were three things added to the dish that made me worried--but I figured that they would all fit together well in the end.

They did not.

The ingredients that worried me were Sour Cream, Nutmeg, and Dijon Mustard.

The Dijon Mustard was a huge flavor in the pasta, and not a very welcome one. The mustard overpowered the cheese! Mustard Pasta is not a taste sensation. Nutmeg was a flavor that I could pick out despite the overpowering mustard and it was a little odd. While apple pie may be served with cheddar cheese, pumpkin never is and the nutmeg brought back memories of pumpkin pie and pumpkin pie with cheese sounds disgusting. The flavor of the sour cream didn't come out nearly as strongly, however, it did add a little bitter aftertaste.

So we ate the dish anyway, but there were mounds of leftovers that I really didn't want to go to waste. I decided to go back to my roots and remembered Grandma Bev's love for no recipes. I decided I would fix the dish if I could.

I pulled out a small casserole and mixed together a little egg and sour cream (I was out of milk and this seemed like a viable solution). I then added a couple scoopfuls of mac and cheese to the casserole. I topped this concoction with a handful of shredded cheddar being sure to fill in any gaps. I added a little bit of shredded mozzarella. Then I put a few thin pats of butter on top and baked for 15 minutes.

The result was a glorious cheesy hot and bubbly mass of golden delicious pasta and cheese easily masking the taste of the disastrous mustard.

2 comments:

Nadine said...

Well sweetie,
It just proves the point that Grandma Bev's mac and cheese is the best! So, don't mess with a good thing.

Although I do know Aunt Kath has talked about adding different kind of cheeses.

Carrie said...

But sometimes I want a simple stove-top only version...and I've never found one that's amazing--although Ellie Kriegers recipe with squash was pretty good.