Susan: Mac & Cheese

Leslie has it just right - Macaroni and Cheese is the ultimate comfort food, and there's little that makes me feel better when the weather is gray than my mother's delicious version. Seems hard to go wrong with warm and gooey cheese anytime really.

So I was surprised to be a little disappointed with the Cooking for Mr. Latte version. The bechamel came together and browned beautifully - and I fully agree with Jer that a dash of fresh nutmeg is the way to go - so it seemed that we were on the right path. I used fresh cheddar cheese, my family's preferred mac & cheese flavor, and substituted prosciutto for the chopped ham in the recipe.

In the end the dish smelled heavenly coming out of the oven and looked great on the plate, but something wasn't quite right. At least to my, and my family's tastes, it was a more gooey concoction than than the casserole-style version we've grown up with. I'm not convinced that the extra step required for the bechamel pays off, although I did think the prosciutto made a lovely addition.

Maybe when it comes to comfort foods like this the magic is really more in the sense of familiarity than anything else. I am inspired by all of your willingness to try this recipe over again, but I think I'll be sticking with my mother's...

If anyone is interested in trying yet another version, I highly recommend this family favorite - fairly similar to the version Elaine posted, but with the addition of egg and a dash of Worcestershire sauce that gives a little extra punch. It also can be assembled in advance and frozen, which is useful for surprise house guests and hungry men. Enjoy!

1/2 lb macaroni or other shaped pasta (campanile or orrechiette work great)
1 tablespoon butter
1 egg, beaten
3 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup warm milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
A pinch of paprika
Dry breadcrumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 2-quart casserole dish.
2. Cook and drain pasta well.
3. Transfer pasta to the casserole dish. Add butter and beaten egg, tossing gently. Add 2-1/2 cups of the cheese over top.
4. In a small bowl, combine hot milk with salt, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Pour mixture over the pasta and cheese.
5. Sprinkle remaining cheese over top, then cover with breadcrumbs and dash of paprika.
6. Bake on middle shelve for 35 to 40 minutes until macaroni is firm to the touch and top is brown and crusty.

Adapted from the White House Family Cookbook, 1987.

Kaoru: Mac & Cheese

It was one of those days... cold, rainy and miserable. I also caught a mild cold and didn't feel great. After getting through the day - sipping tea with honey, 2 bottles of orange juice, a bottle of water and a cup of insta-Nestle hot coco - I escaped work at 5 PM. And the ONLY thing I wanted for dinner was mac & cheese. As Julie put it - ooey, gooey cheesey mac & cheese. Comfort food.

I hit the store before getting home, decided on a half recipe with a gruyere - monterey jack combo. It hit the spot mainly because I had built up the meal in my mind, but by all accounts, it was only so-so.

First, the pasta / goo ratio was a bit off (similar to Julie) which resulted in a mac & cheese on the drier side. Second, I could've used more panko for a crunchier top. Finally, I should've placed the dish on a higher shelf in the oven to attain a more golden brown color &/or broiled it at the end (as Jer suggests). My mac & cheese looks a tad anemic, no?

Don't get me wrong... my dish still TRULY did hit the spot (I wouldn't have wanted anything else for dinner last night), but Julie's inspired me to give it another go! Stay tuned for mac & cheese part II.

Julie: Mac and Cheese

Every now and then I get on a tear, trying to perfect a recipe. For me, with my short memory, the easiest way to do that is to make it several times in a very short time period. Like my great curry experiment of 2002-- I think I made curry 5 times in 9 days. No doubt there is some guy sitting on a couch in Boston wondering why it always smells faintly like curry, but not caring as it was a steal on craigslist!

With Mac and Cheese, I got on a mini-tear. I made it one night. It was good but not quite great. I should have heeded Jer's Penne warning. I knew with a bit of tweaking it could be fab. So I made it the next. Fantastico!

Both night I made the Bechamel using 3 kinds of delish cheeses: Gruyere, Fontina, and Parmesano Reggiano. The first night I used Penne, and probably too much of it. It was tasty, but it came out a bit dry-- no ooey gooey inbetween the noodles. The crust bits were particularly good. However I wanted, no I needed to attain ooeey gooey mac and cheese. So the next night I made it as a side for my family's Hannukah dinner. I switched to Orrechiette (little ear shaped pasta) and used less noodle to sauce ratio. And I switched to a embarrasingly large casserole dish so basically every bite was covered in the crusty crumb and cheese topping. Nirvana. The dish came out truly delish. The ultimate seal of approval came from my 19 month old nephew, who'd been on food strike for 3 days due to an ear infection. One bite of the mac 'n cheese, and the strike was off-- the kid couldn't get the stuff down fast enough!


Great call, Leslie. I'm definitely going to be making this again for New Year's Eve-- what a great crowd pleaser! At some point I also want to try it with the tomato, as in the original recipe. Now that I have my nirvana version down, it will be fun to tweak and play and see what new levels of happiness I can attain with this dish :)

Jer: Mac & Cheese

I hadn’t been home nor in my own kitchen for more than three weeks so when Pete asked me yesterday what I was thinking for dinner, mac & cheese popped into my head as the perfect welcome home comfort food.

There are so many variations you can make with your mac & cheese that I would urge you to focus on the three basic steps in Helen’s recipe as opposed to following the recipe too carefully. If you can learn the method you’ll find how easy it is to make this always crowd pleasing dish and anyone you make it for will love you for it.

The three steps are: 1) make a bechamel, 2) mix freshly cooked pasta into béchamel and add cheese, 3) bake in oven until top cheese has melted and then broil for the last few minutes.

Making a béchamel is really as easy as boiling the water to cook the pasta (which you should do before you begin your béchamel). Begin with good ingredients like European style butter (French butter from your favorite cheese shop is best but plugra is good and available at TJs), whole milk (there is too much water in lower fat milks and this dish really is not about counting calories), and freshly grated pepper and nutmeg. And while cooking the béchamel just be careful about your temperature as you want your butter slightly browned and not burned. If you burn your butter you really ought to clean out your pan and start over.

Add your butter to the pan and just as it begins to foam and turn a soft brown sprinkle your flour over the butter. Stir and mix for about two minutes so that the flour cooks a bit (this will allow your béchamel to have a more developed flavor as opposed to a chalky or floury taste). It should look a little foamy and the color should be just slightly warm. I prefer Wondra when making bechamel.

Warm your milk in another pan or in the microwave (warm don’t boil as you don't want a coating to develop on the top layer of the milk) and then with the pan off the flame stream the milk into the butter/flour mixture while stirring. Bring it back to a medium flame and stir until the sauce begins to thicken. I usually start with half the milk and gradually add the milk as the sauce thickens up.

Begin flavoring your béchamel with salt, freshly grated pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. Add the rest of your milk while whisking until you have a soft and creamy sauce. Taste and adjust your seasonings.

Add your freshly cooked pasta directly to your béchamel and stir to coat the pasta. Elbow macaroni is great but so is any type of pasta with grooves and curves as anything with curl will help hold onto the cheese and béchamel. I don’t like using penne for mac & cheese as I find it makes a dish that is too dry. Be judicious with how much of your cooked pasta you add to your bechamel and don't feel like you need to use all of your pasta (if you use too much pasta relative to the amount of sauce you have your mac & cheese will be dry). Also you really ought to try timing it so that your pasta goes from the water to the strainer to the bechamel within seconds. You want your pasta perfectly cooked and very hot when you add it to the sauce so that the sauce attaches to the pasta nicely. Don't precook your pasta and let it sit in your strainer getting gooey and mushy.

Once coated with your béchamel add any cheese you want. Monterey jack is good, but so is a mixture of any grateable cheese with nice flavor like Italian fontina, gruyere, and parmeseanno reggiano. I don’t like using only gruyere as I find it gets too oily but I love the bite it gives. I don’t like using only parmesan because I don’t think it’s creamy enough. I prefer white cheese mac & cheese but if I’m cooking for children I’ll almost always use grated sharp cheddar cut with some parmesean. Once you've added your cheese, taste and adjust for salt.

If you want to add pork you should add it in now. Cubed ham is fine but I really like a nice smoky proscuitto ripped or sliced into smaller pieces. Serrano is also nice. If I’m cooking for men (especially my P) I almost never add pork as I find they prefer the classic dish over any fancier variation.

Choose a baking dish that is wider than it is deep as a shallower layer of your mac & cheese will allow for more of it to be coated with nice crunchy topping (which I find most people prefer). Top with your bread crumbs, pads of butter, freshly ground pepper and a healthy topping of more grated cheese. Bake just until the cheese melts on top (don’t overbake as you’ll dry out your dish) and then when ready to bring to the table broil until the top browns just as you like it.

I roasted some aspargus alongside the mac & cheese in the oven but I also like serving this dish with a nice simple salad. Pete loved it so much he asked if the dish could go into the weekly rotation. The true test of a perfect comfort food!

Paris

Julie and I recently went to Paris (with Maya, another dear friend) and we had some fabulous dining experiences. I thought I would share names and addresses of our most memorable meals so that you can use them as reference on future visits you have to this beautiful city. I know Katy travels there regularly. And Kaoru -- you were very missed on this trip, especially during the many meals shared with Ange. I’ve only provided the highlights below (although even those unremarkable meals which are not listed here would probably rate pretty high at home!)

As a side note, I thought it would be great for us to share dining recommendations from any trips we take in the course of this cooking project as I really enjoy visiting restaurants that have been recommended by friends. Enjoy!

Home cooking

If you can swing it, instead of staying in a hotel, we would recommend staying in a flat near one of the city’s many outdoor food markets. We would begin our day with a walk through our local market to pick up ingredients for dinner (and always stopped at this cheese shop above to pick up amazing blue cheese for our bibb lettuce, radish, and blue cheese salad which became a nightly ritual). We really had some amazing meals at home. There is a lot to be said about coming back from a long day of walking to a nice home cooked meal, especially given the wonderful fresh meat, fish and produce they have here not to mention the amazing bread and cheese!

Memorable meals

L’Ami Jean
27 Rue Malar, metro: Invalides
In the 7^th just off Universite, 01 47 05 86 89
Basque-french; inventive and delicious in a very rustic setting; our favorite meal

L’As du Falafel
34 Rue de Rossiers, metro: St. Paul or Chatelet
In the 4^th in the middle of the Marais
The most amazing falafel I’ve ever tried, no exaggerating. Sit inside and order some frites and lemonade. The meal is so amazing and the bill so cheap I’m sure you’ll return for a repeat visit (we did!)

La Crepe Dentelle
10 Rue Leopold Bellan, metro: Sentier, in the 2nd
After the girls left I had many solo crepe meals and this one was the best hands down. It was recommended to me by a friend who is from Brittany (where crepes originated). So he knows his crepes and he believes this is the best in all of Paris (and comes here for a few meals every time he is in town). Try the crepe with chevre and honey as the flavors will surprise and amaze you. And don't forget the traditional apple cider.

La Sourdier
4 Rue de la Sourdierie, metro: Tuileres
In the 1^st just off Rue Fauborg St. Honoree, 01 42 60 12 87
Classic bistro fare and an excellent way to relax after a day of shopping on this most elegant of shopping streets. Not too far from the Hermes store which for people watching is entertainment in itself.

Le Gare
19 Chausee de la Muette, metro: Muette or Passy
In the 16th, along Rue Passy just before the park
Another recommendation from a friend who used to live here. This is worth a visit for lunch if you are headed to the Marmottan Museum (the Monet museum which I highly recommend if you enjoy impressionist works.) The room is modern but elegant and they have a lovely fish of the day over steamed vegetables that provided me just the proper fuel for an afternoon at the Marmottan. If you love Monet do not miss the L’Organerie Museum, reopened in 2006 after a six year renovation. The waterlily canvases were so beautiful I was almost moved to tears.

Le Domain de Lintillac
20 Rue Rousselet, metro: Vaneau
In the 7^th near Le Gran Epciure and Le Bon Marche
Highly recommended by a friend who lives here, don’t miss this all duck restaurant if you like duck (huge assortment of duck dishes and foie grois)

Au Trou Gascon
40 Rue Taine, metro: Daupensil
In the 12th, 01 43 44 34 26
The best home cured Serrano ham I’ve ever had (and I’m not even in Spain!) and an amazing cassoulet that should not be missed. Extremely elegant and romantinc dining room. Come here with a loved one.

Le Soleil
109 Ave Michelet, metro: Porte de Clignacourt, 01 40 10 08 08
If you go to the huge antique market which takes place Sat-Mon at Clignacourt then this is where you should have lunch. We had an exceptional meal here of classic bistro fare (although stay away from their rum dessert which they say is famous; the chocolate molten cake is much better). If you like swap meets or antiquing we would highly recommend you spend a day at this antique market. It is unlike any other.

Memorable snacks

Lauduree (macaroons and tea)
16 Rue Royale, metro: Concorde
In the 1^st just between Place Concorde and Place Madeleine
Macaroons unlike you’ve ever tried before and a most elegant tea service

Poilane (bakery)
8 Cherche-Midi, metro: St. Germain des Pres
In the 6^th in the middle of a terrific shopping district
My dear friend Elaine who lived in Brussels and came to Paris regularly swears by the bag of butter cookies at Polaine. They are so good you can’t help but finish an entire bag by day’s end. Also not to miss is some of their amazing breads and apple tarts. Elaine posted the Poilane butter cookie recipe at www.cookingdiaries.blogspot.com

Bertillion (ice cream)
31 Rue St. Louis
On the isle of St. Louis just behind Notre Dame, 01 43 54 31 61
Probably the best chocolate ice cream I’ve ever tried

Mariage Freres (tea)
30 Rue de Bourg-Tibourg, metro: St. Paul or Chatelet
In the 4^th in the middle of the Marais, 01 42 72 28 11
Probably the largest selection of tea from around the world I have ever seen. Their scones were warm and delicious with butter and jam. The tea room was elegant and from a different era.

Angelinas (hot chocolate)
226 Rue de Rivoli, metro: Tuileres
In the 1st across the street from the Tuileres Gardens
Incredibly rich hot chocolate that they serve along with thick chantilly creme. Stay away however from their mont blanc (which they tout as being famous). It was terrible.

Memorable food and cooking shopping

Dehillerin (cook’s tools)
18 Rue de Coquillierre, metro: Les Halles
In the 1^st/2^nd just off Rue de Louvre
Amazing selection of copper and stainless steel pots, knives, baking tools, whisks and rolling pins. A gem of a store for folks like ourselves who love to cook.

A.Simon (serving tools)
48-52 Rue Montmarte, metro: Les Halles
Very close to Dehillerin
Dehillerin is where you can find kitchen tools but A.Simon is where you can find amazing cutlery, flatware, dishes, placemats, etc. including a wonderful selection of Laguiole steak knives. I had quite a field day here and at Dehillerin picking up holiday presents.

Le Gran Epicurie (huge artisinal food market)
In the 6^th near corner of Sevres and Babylone, Metro: Babylone
Great fun to walk around and pick up food treats to bring back home

L’Epicurie (boutique food shop)
51 Rue St. Louis on the Isle St. Louis
Another Elaine recommendation and a wonderful place to pick up gifts for friends and family