Starchy Food 3

For Perry Mac n' Cheese

I come from a seriously large southern family. I learned to cook from my grandmother, who everyone called "Granny."  Just about everyone, except my granny, had a recipe for homemade macaroni and cheese.  People would sometimes argue about details, but they all had one thing in common--they all baked.  While I don't have anything against baked mac 'n cheese per se, I really prefer the unbaked kind.  If what Anne serves Perry isn't creamed corn, then it really has to be macaroni and cheese--probably the boxed kind.  Since I still feel kinda sorry for Perry, I'd like to send a little love his way with stove top, but homemade, elbows with cheese sauce.

For the cheese sauce:

2 tbsp butter

3 tbsp. flour

pinch nutmeg

pinch cayenne powder

pinch white pepper

1/2 tsp. salt*

Whole milk (start with 1 1/2 cups)

1 1/2 cups grated red cheddar cheese (how strong is up to the cook)

2 cups dried elbow macaroni

Salted boiling water

1 tsp. vegetable oil


*add the salt only after the cheese is melted.  Taste the sauce first, you may need more or less, depending on the salt in cheese used.

Oh Chucky!!

1.  Melt the butter in a large saucepan, when it is bubbling, add the flour and whisk--this needs to cook for a minute or two, the smell of the flour changes from a "raw" smell to a toasted smell (you don't want to brown it).  While the flour is bubbling, add the pinches of spices, then add the milk and whisk until the mixture starts to thicken (at this point you're basically making a white sauce).  Whisk until the mixture is thickened, but smooth (around 5 minutes on medium--or a "moderate flame" if you cook with gas).  If the mixture is pretty thick, add more milk, whisk well and wait for the sauce to boil.

2.  Meanwhile, bring the water for the pasta to boil and add a tsp. of salt.  When boiling, cook the pasta for 20 minutes at full boil (this is the trick to keeping the pasta from becoming hard after being mixed with the sauce).  Drain and toss in bowl with oil to keep it separated.

3.  When the sauce is a thin white sauce, add the cheese a little at a time, until it is melted and the white sauce is colored.  Add the cooked elbows to the sauce, mix well, make sure it's hot and serve.  

This would be a great choice for Halloween starch

Yet another Halloween costume  idea.