For The Hungry Australian’s first guest post, I’m delighted to hand the reigns over to JJ from 84th & 3rd.
I knew JJ’s delightful blog before I met her in person at Eat Drink Blog, the second Australian Food Bloggers Conference in November last year. I remember telling JJ how much I liked her blog header and how impressed I was when she told me she designed it herself.
Afterwards, I got to know JJ better when we decided to organise the Sweet Adventures monthly dessert-themed blog hop together, along with Delicieux, Dining With a Stud, and The Capers of the Kitchen Crusader. On our lengthy email group discussions, JJ’s contributions are always helpful, diplomatic, dry and smart: she is definitely the kind of person you want on your team.
I didn’t need further evidence of JJ’s competence but I was extremely touched when she sensed I was being overwhelmed by family matters this week and kindly offered to help out with a guest post. So, without further ado, please read on and enjoy JJ’s Mac-n-Cheese guest post. And then head on over to 84th and 3rd for more deliciousness covered with “a good dusting of cocoa powder”.
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Surprising Stove-Top Mac-n-Cheese by JJ from 84th & 3rd
Sometimes we all need a mini-break. A chance to juggle one less ball for a change. To take a deep breath – or perhaps two. Even people who sit at home and eat bon-bons and go out to posh lunches and afternoon shopping dates may need to take a break sometimes – FYI, if you’re one of those people, call me, I’ll be happy to help you out.
In any case, I recently volunteered to do a guest post for Christina if she ever needed to take a deep breath, and the other day she took me up on it! I love Christina’s recipes with all their fresh-Asian and comforting-Australian flavours, so it was quite ironic that I had only just made up a batch of creamy, cheesy, entirely America-land inspired Mac-n-Cheese. This stuff is about as polar opposite as it gets to Christina’s usual creations – perfect for a guest post – ha!
You see, sometimes I get a craving for a specific food and once the idea is planted nothing else will do. You know how it is, I see you nodding and thinking about what you want for dinner already. I’ve learned over the years that if it’s remotely possible to find or make whatever I am craving it is for the best… as the alternative tends to be that I keep picking, entirely unsatisfied, until I’ve eaten a bit of everything in the house, none of it being what I actually want.
Anyway. The other evening I wanted Mac-n-Cheese and this recipe is what I came up with. It not only hit the spot but was so easy and tasty as a mid-week dinner I will be making it again very soon. It really didn’t take much longer than the fluro orange stuff from a box, but believe me there is not a box or dusting of fluro powder in site. This is the real stuff.
So what’s the ‘Surprising’ part? – Well, there’s no butter, or white flour, or cows milk for starters. Plus you only use one pan – ok plus a strainer for the pasta – but one pan. So, healthy and easy all in one go. Oh right, most importantly, cheesy!
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Surprising Stove-top Mac-n-Cheese
Ingredients:
3 cups uncooked whole wheat spiral or penne pasta
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp whole spelt flour
1 c goat milk
sea salt and cracked black pepper
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 – 3/4 c finely grated hard goats cheese*
Method:
Cook pasta according to package directions until al-dente. Drain in a colander, reserving 1/2 cup or so of the cooking water for the sauce. Leave pasta in the colander/strainer while you make the sauce in the saucepan you just emptied – no need to wash it, you only boiled pasta for goodness sakes.
Gently heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add in flour and whisk or stir well to combine – it will foam/sizzle a bit. Continue to stir for a minute or so to ‘cook’ the flour. Remove from heat and carefully pour in milk whisking constantly to create a smooth sauce.
Return to heat and simmer – do not boil – over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes until thickened and smooth. Remove from heat, add in nutmeg and season well with salt and pepper. Quickly whisk in grated cheese until melted.
Stir through drained pasta and a bit of the cooking water if needed to thin sauce.
Plate up drizzled with a bit of extra olive oil, a sprinkle of grated cheese and a green salad.
Serves 2-3ish
Notes:
- When we cut down on cow dairy one of the the first things I searched for was a hard goat and sheep cheeses for occasions just like this! This Goat Chevrette is perfect but any semi-hard easy melting cheese like Gruyere or Fontina would work perfectly too.
