as some of you know I went to cooking school so I'm going to start posting my recipes in off-topic.... they are all knockout good and very original
Autumn mac n cheese
1/2 box elbow or mini-shell macaroni (I usually like de cecco, but barilla holds up really well in the oven and really any brand will do if you don't care how mushy your pasta gets)
4 to 8 ozs canned jumbo lump crabmeat (rinsed
and sifted for shell)
8 ozs+ butternut squash cubed (often available precut at the supermarket)
3 slices of bacon
2 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of flour
1 cup of heavy cream
1/4 cop sour cream
1small shallotte diced very small
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
teaspoon ground nutmeg
teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon west indian of madras curry powder (optional)
1/2 cup grated gruyere cheese (the more expensive it is the better your mac will taste)
1/2 cup grated Havarti cheese
1/2 cup grated cheddar (any old shit will do)
4 slices Cooper sharp American or similar
1/2 cup grated parmesan, pecorino or locatelli cheese (not out of a jar, real shit from Italy)
1/2 cup preseasoned breadcrumbs
1/2 cup panko breadcumbs
1/2 cup of cheez-its (not Nips or any other brand... plain are best, but tabasco, pepper jack etc can add some zazz if you feel daring... and yes, I know my cooking teachers would be shocked by this, but you have to try it, cheez-its can be an ingredient, really)
preheat oven to 450 farenheit
In a food processor, pulse the cheez-its until they are ground coarsely, the texture of breadcrumbs.
steam the butternut squash until its mushy and reserve... if you have a pot with a pasta insert an steamer you can reuse the water to boil your pasta assuming you add a couple tablespoons of salt to it.... either way, boil the pasta for exactly 1 minute less than the minimum cook time.
In a large enameled dutch oven cook the bacon until its crispy and all the fat is laying in the pan,remove it and crumble it into a bowl... then melt 1/2 a tablespoon of the butter into the bacon grease over medium heat, then sautee the shallot until its translucent adding salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Wisk in the flour and cook it until it forms a smooth paste (about 5 minutes). Add the dry mustard and other ground spices, then wisk in the heavy cream and Dijon. thicken the cheese sauce over medium (or lower) heat whisking constantly. When the sauce has thickened a little stir in the gruyere, Havarti and American slices until they are thoroughly incorporated and remove from the heat. If you have a food mill, place it over the pot and process the squash thru the largest disk, if you don't have a food mill pulse the squash in a food processor until it is the consistency of lumpy oatmeal and then add it to the cheese sauce. Stir the squash gunk into the sauce thoroughly and taste. Now is the time to salt and peper the sauce the way you want it so think hard when tasting it and season wisely! If you have fresh tarragon you might want to chop some up and stir it in, tarragon is pretty zazzy in this dish but not essential. Once the sauce is tasting right, incorporate the cooked pasta. and set aside.
In a medium sautee pan melt the remaining butter over medium medium-high heat. Meanwhile, in a work bowl mix the panko, ground cheezits and seasoned breadcrumbs with the olive oil and parmesean cheese (a salad fork generally works well for this) and then add the moistened bredcrumbs to the pan with the butter and toast until slightly browner than they started, about 5 minutes, then remove from the heat. Grease an appropriately sized baking dish with butter (corningware is a good call here, do NOT use metal) and reduce the oven heat to 375. Mix the crumbled bacon into the breadcrumb mixture. Next you want a big ladel and a rubber baking spatula. Gently fold the crabmeat and sour cream into the macaroni mixture attempting to leave some large lumps but also break up some of it so it distributes evenly. Ladel about a third of the macaroni mixture into the baking dish, smoothing it with the spatula, then sprinkle it with shredded cheddar. Repeat this process until all the macaroni and sauce is in the baking dish, then evenly cover the top with the toasted breadcrumb mixture and place it in the oven. Bake for 1 hour or until the breadcrumbs start to singe around the edges (you will smell the toasty bread smell), whichever comes first.
Serve it to people who like comfort food and remember to credit me as the creator of this dish!
If you don't like crab meat (like my son) then you can omit it and the dish is still bangin'
for a thinner sauce sub 1 and 1/4 cups of whole milk for the cup of heavy cream or try 1 and a 1.4 cups of light cream and omit the sour cream (though the sour cream adds a lot of bite to offset the crab/squash sweetness and highlights the nuttiness of the gruyere and parm)
