Category: Pasta

Meals with Pasta

February 9, 2012

A to die for Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

Closeup of Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

This is the best recipe for Macaroni and Cheese we’ve ever made. It has the essential quality that we feel a good Mac and Cheese recipe has that the cheese mixture absolutely sticks to and surrounds the macaroni. Look at the picture above and you’ll see how the cheese has spread well. Try this recipe yourself and provide a comment on your thoughts please. We believe strongly that this is THE Macaroni and Cheese Recipe.

Bread Crumb Topping

12 ounces of dried elbow macaroni
2 teaspoons butter
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
1 tbsp grated Parmesan Cheese

Melt the butter in a small non-stick skillet.
Add bread crumbs and Parmesan Cheese
Mix well. Remove to a small bowl. Set aside.

The Splendid Cheese Sauce

4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
2 1/2 cups milk
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat Oven to 500° f.
Bring 3 quarts of water to boil in a large pan. Add macaroni noodles. Stir.
Make a Rue: Melt 2 tbsp butter in a 3 quart non-stick saucepan. Add flour and stir until bubbly and the flour begins to lightly brown.
Add milk to the saucepan, while stirring thoroughly to blend the milk and flour (a whisk works well).
Heat slowly, stirring often until milk is hot and just near boiling. Whisk together well.
Stir in cheese and mix until melted through.
Mix in the nutmeg and cayenne pepper. Set aside, the pasta should be done at this point.
Drain pasta well. Pour the cheese mix over the macaroni noodles and carefully stir to blend well.
Spoon the cheese/macaroni mixture into 4 x 4″ diameter ramkins or similar sized oven safe bowls about 2″ deep.
Top each bowl with 1/4 of the breadcrumb mixture.
Place in the oven and heat until the bowls are bubbly 5 to 7 minutes. Remove and allow to cool for 4 to 5 minutes before serving.
Enjoy.

Delicious Macaroni and Cheese

October 4, 2009

An Upside Down Lasagna

Upside Down Lasagna

This is a break from the typical lasagna and is 10 times easier to make. With the standard “right side up” lasagna it takes a good bit of effort to cook the lasagna noodles, the meat sauce and mix the cheeses, and then layer them all together before baking the meal. This recipe leaves out several of those steps and doesn’t use lasagna noodles at all. This Lasagna is made in two steps, first the noodles and cheese are baked, and then a meat sauce is made while the pasta & cheese are baking. Finally the meat is place over top of the baked noodles and cheese forming the “upside down” lasagna.

Lasagna
1 lb of Your Favorite Vermicelli or Fettuccine Pasta
1 lb Ricotta Cheese
1/2 lb Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 lb Provolone Cheese
1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

Cook the pasta according to package directions to al dente. Drain and rinse with cool water. Meanwhile, mix the cheeses together in a large bowl. Add the cooked pasta, and mix well using your hands. Bake in a 350° F oven for 30 to 40 minutes until top is browned. We use an aluminum disposable baking pan because after baking the cheese and pasta a regular baking pan is hard to clean.

Lasagna right out of the oven

Prepared Upside down Pasta and Cheese In Pan

Meat Sauce
1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 15oz can tomato sauce
3 tbsp Spatini Seasoning
1/2 cup water

Cook the ground beef or turkey in a 3 quart sauce pan, mixing around and breaking up the ground meat into fine chunks. Add the chopped onion and cook for 1 to 2 more minutes. Then add tomato sauce, Spatini and water. Mix well. Lower heat to simmer and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Assemble the Upside Down Lasagna
Cut a 4″ x 3″ piece of the cooked pasta/cheese and place on serving plate. Top with 1/2 cup of meat sauce. Sprinkle with fresh grated Parmesan Cheese. Serve with Garlic Bread.

March 10, 2007

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese with Hot Dogs

Kraft Macaroni and Cheese With Hot Dogs

Ever since I was a child I’ve eaten Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for a quick lunch. I’ve tried the many different varieties of mac and cheese made by Kraft including the Velveeta, and instant squeeze cheese packets. But my favorite Kraft mac and cheese remains their original with elbows.

One way that I make the Kraft Mac & Cheese is by adding two or three hot dogs to the boiling water along with the dry macaroni pasta. Both will cook together, and then when I strain the pasta, I separate the hot dogs from the pasta, and cut the hot dogs into 1/2″ sections, mix back into the pasta, and mix up with sauce. I always use real milk, and real butter, although not the 3 tbsp that the package calls for. Instead I use 2 tbsp butter, and 1/4 cup of warmed milk. To warm the milk, I simply measure into a Pyrex cup, and set near the stove while the pasta cooks. The butter, I simply slice, place in the bottom of the pan, and pour the drained pasta over top. Let this sit about 30 seconds, then stir to mix the butter around, sprinkle the pasta with the powdered cheese sauce mix, and add the mix, stir, and add the hot dogs. Let site 2 minutes to let the cheese sauce thicken.

To serve, spoon the pasta into a salad bowl, and top with some fresh ground black pepper.

As for the hot dogs, I buy Sheldon’s Uncured Chicken or Turkey Hot Dogs that are low in fat, and have no Sodium Nitrate in them. Since they’re not cured, Sheldon’s Hot Dogs must be kept frozen, and added to the water frozen. They taste good, don’t have the nitrates, and are lower in fat the most hot dogs. I just looked at the package of Sheldons Chicken Franks I have, and each frank has 7g of fat, 2g of which are saturated, and those are both 10% of the USDA Daily Value. That’s far less then the 36 – 40% values of normal hot dogs. You can find Sheldon’s hot dogs at the healthy food stores like Whole Foods or if your in central Maryland, where I shop, which is the Common Market in Frederick, MD off of Route 85 in Evergreen Square with Central Tractor Farm & Family used to be.