21st Century Mac and Cheese
Prep time: 15 min, plust time to cook pasta
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4 servings and doubles easily
This is comfort food at its finest- and most simple. Enjoy this delicious remake of a childhood favorite.
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound (2 cups ) raw penne pasta, cooked and drained
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup milk
- 1 small clove garlic
- 3/4 medium onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 generous cup (5 ounces) shredded good quality, extra-sharp cheddar cheese
- 5 ounces cream cheese, crumbled
- 2/3 cup (3 ounces) shredded Gruyere cheese
- Generous 1/8 teaspoon each hot red pepper flakes
- Generous 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Generous 1/4 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 12 saltines, coarsely crumbled
Similar Recipes
Latest Recipes
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter a shallow 1 1/2 quart baking dish, and add cooked pasta.
2. In a blender or food processor combine egg, milk, and garlic, and process 3 seconds. Add onion, cheeses, peppers, salt, and paprika, and blend 10 seconds. Turn into dish, folding into macaroni. Casserole could be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated up to 24 hours at this point.
3. To bake, bring casserole close to room temperature. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Coat crackers with butter and spread over top of casserole. Bake about 20 to 25 minutes, or until thick yet creamy. If top is not golden, slip under broiler for a minute. Remove from oven, let stand about 5 minutes, and serve.
About The Show
In 1994, acclaimed food writer and cooking teacher Lynne Rossetto Kasper was receiving accolades for her debut book, The Splendid Table, which at that time was the only book to have won both the James Beard and Julia Child Cookbook of the Year awards. Among the many people enchanted by the book was producer and foodie Sally Swift, who thought the time could be right for a radio program on food.
