Yesterday was athletic day at school (only second to pajama day.) Of course, I was sporting my yoga pants and Charles Tillman jersey. How can you not have a great day when you get to where yoga pants to work? Well my day peaked with yoga pants. I should have known the rest of the day wouldn't have been so smooth when my classroom was practically on fire. (Okay, I'm being a little dramatic.) When the custodian came into fix said furnace, he asked if watched the Bears game last night (which of course, I did.) And followed it up with the fact that he only watched the 1st quarter because it was boring. BORING?!?! What is boring about 5 interceptions and a Bears W? Nothing, that's what.
There's also nothing boring about an overload of Homemade Mac. I say overload because there was about 3.5 lbs of Mac n Cheese brewing at the Lair Monday night. I offered to cook Mac n Cheese as a bribe to the Southport Corridor to watch MNF with me, though we all know that they didn't need a bribe to stay at their house. Jes was supposed to join us but her case of the Mondays kicked in after school, and she opted out of traveling north, but still was craving Mac n Cheese. And as for me.. I'll take my mac gluten free. This is how we came to have 3.5lbs of Macaroni and Cheese.
Though Tony makes a mean mac, I opted for a variation of Giada's Recipe. Her recipe is actually a copy from Harry's Bar in Venice (which I've been too! I'm so cool, I know!) So as Giada was teaching me through this video; I was teaching Jes. (If you know anything about Jes, you know that the extend of her cooking is grilled cheese. And don't get me wrong, I would prefer her grilled cheese to mine any day. But I wouldn't dare let her make me peas.)
I also made some improvements to Giada's recipe. I used these large spiral noodles called trata something or tortella or something like that. (No! Not tortellini.) They were huge and awesome and probably more tasty than yucky egg noodles even though I didn't taste them. I got them from Jewel, but had never heard/ seen them before. For my GF recipe.. I used Brown Rice Penne from Trader Joe's. Since I drink Lactose Free Milk, and its pretty thick, I substituted it for whole milk. And since I was cooking for boys, I added about 1.75lbs of pasta & some extra Parmesan cheese and an extra 1/2 pint of heavy cream. And don't forget the bacon.
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Top that bad boy with extra cheese and breadcrumbs to make it crunchy on top. And here's what you get...
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| Gluten Free Macaroni & Cheese |
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| Regular Mac n Cheese |
Plus some happy eaters.
Macaroni and Cheese
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis
Ingredients
- Butter, for greasing dish
- 12 ounces wide egg noodles
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 1/2 cups whole milk
- 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for pasta water
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups (packed) grated Fontina
- 3/4 cup (packed) finely grated Parmesan
- 3/4 cup (packed) grated mozzarella
- 4 ounces cooked ham, diced, optional
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Butter a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Cook the noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Drain well, but do not rinse. Whisk the cream, milk, flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper in large bowl to blend. Stir in 1 cup Fontina, 1/2 cup Parmesan, 1/2 cup mozzarella, ham, if using, and parsley. Add the noodles and toss to coat. Transfer the noodle mixture to the prepared baking dish. Toss the remaining 1 cup Fontina, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and 1/4 cup mozzarella in a small bowl to blend. Sprinkle the cheese mixture over the noodle mixture. Bake until the sauce bubbles and the cheese melts and begins to brown on top, about 20 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
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