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This week I have definitely worked hard and played hard since it was my birthday week 🙂

As a student I always dreaded midterm week. Aside of the obvious it usually coincided with my birthday in the Winter term, and was right before term break. Now of the other side of that equation I dread midterm week even more! Grading midterms is so much worse than writing them. I definitely crashed last night once it was all over, and gave into popcorn for dinner. It was such a sad love day meal that I was determined to make up for over the weekend. T. is coming home tomorrow for 2 days, so I should have lots to report next week. Tonight is me time and I decided to indulge in one of my personal favourites mac & cheese.  I came across this recipe a while back (adding bacon is always a good idea), but I decided to modify it a bit to use up some white wine I have in the fridge… I’m a red kind of girl, only in the dead heat of summer will I switch to white and even then it is a stretch.

After working all day it seemed like a great time to pour a glass of wine, turn on some music and partake in some mindless cooking.

Adult Mac & Cheese

IMG_0744Note: my trick with the milk, it will make for your best cheese sauce yet. I wish I could credit where I found it but it was a few years ago. It isn’t over powering it just adds some depth to the flavour of the sauce.

  1. To start in a sauce pan add 1 cup of skim milk, 1/4 cup of heavy cream, 1 bay leaf, and 2 cloves of garlic smashed. Set over med-low heat for 10 minutes.
  2. Chop 3 slices of bacon, cook and set aside
  3. Melt 2 tbsp of butter in saucepan, add 2 tbsp of flour to make a roux. Add the milk, stained so not to add the bay leaf or garlic. Add 1/2 cup of white wine (Hello Friday!). Let sit over med heat for sauce to thicken. After about 5 mins the wine should have evaporated slightly, you can now check the seasoning. I added pepper and 1 tsp truffle mustard I picked up in Vancouver, but dijon would work as well. Once the sauce has thicken, remove from heat and add 1 cup of Swiss Gruyere cheese (more cheese if you like!)
  4. Boil water, salted and with 1 tbsp of olive oil, for the pasta. I cooked lumache pasta (it’s shaped after snails), but you could use which ever short pasta you like.
  5. Mix the pasta, bacon, and cheese sauce in a casserole dish, top with shredded Gruyere and bake in the over 350F for 25 – 30 mins.
  6. To serve I topped with chopped chives.

That’s my Adult Mac & Cheese. It was delicious! Generally I’m a purist when it comes to traditional comfort foods most things, but this twist was richly satisfying. Not something I would eat all the time, but will definitely make again.

I hope you enjoy as much as I did 🙂

Wine

I enjoyed a Spanish Grenache with my boozy mac & cheese