Barefoot Thursday! Grown Up Mac and Cheese

Welcome to Barefoot Thursday! Barefoot Thursday comes twice a month and it’s a day when food bloggers everywhere (well about 100 bloggers right now) prepare a recipe created by Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa. Why don’t you join in? Today’s recipe for Grown Up Mac and Cheese was selected by Heather of Randomosity and the Girl. And oh what a fine selection it was!

Why is it that all the foods I love are so high in fat and calories? I found on a website called The Culinary Review that this recipe has 1407 calories per serving! Could that be true? I didn’t skimp on the cheese and bacon that’s for sure. I actually quintupled the recipe-not for myself (although I can shovel down Mac and Cheese with the best of them). This is my week to cook for a local women’s shelter; but now that I know that I am serving them a meal of 14,070 calories (not counting salad and dessert) I feel a tad bit guilty that I didn’t buy reduced fat cheeses.

Oh well, it sure is a tasty comfort meal though. I did make one slight change to the recipe and that was to eliminate the bread crumbs (yeah I know that’s like throwing a deck chair off the Queen Mary). But wait, I replaced the crumbs with frizzled shallots…shallots I coated with flour and cooked until crispy in some of the bacon drippings! I guess we can just go ahead and round off that calorie count to 15,000. Would anyone care for dessert?

Grown Up Mac and Cheese by Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa

4 ounces thick-sliced bacon
Vegetable oil

Kosher salt

2 cups elbow macaroni or cavatappi

1 1/2 cups milk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

3 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated

2 ounces blue cheese, such as Roquefort, crumbled

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pinch nutmeg

2 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed

2 tablespoons freshly chopped basil leaves

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place a baking rack on a sheet pan and arrange the bacon in 1 layer on the baking rack. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the bacon is crisp. Remove the pan carefully from the oven - there will be hot grease in the pan! Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels and crumble when it is cool enough to handle.

Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. Melt the butter in a medium pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or 2 more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, blue cheese, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and crumbled bacon and stir well. Pour into 2 individual size gratin dishes.

Place the bread slices in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until you have coarse crumbs. Add the basil and pulse to combine. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the top of the pasta. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

Cattle Coercion-The Farmer's Cow Milk

So just who was the first person to decide we should be drinking cow’s milk? My family and I have often joked about it-picturing the farmer with his bucket of milk fresh from the cow and deciding that it looked good enough to drink. When I think about all the dairy foods I love, like cheese, ice cream, butter and your typical cold glass of milk I easily dismiss who was first to drink it and am just grateful.

My recent find at the grocery store actually seemed to find me. It was right there in the dairy case staring at me with its bovine eyes: The Farmers Cow milk.

I remember first noticing the cartons- they were colorful with a somewhat intimidating cow staring at you from the center of the carton; I felt the cow eyes watching me as my recently manicured fingers fondled my usual Stop and Shop gallon. The eyes seemed to be following me, perhaps beckoning me to notice them, I’m pretty sure I may have even heard a moo or two. Finally succumbing to the cattle coercion I grabbed two cartons of fat free and two cartons of 1%.

Once at home, I stacked a plate with Oreos and poured myself a tall one. I could not help but notice that the skim milk’s appearance was not as watery as I was accustomed to. The milk had the creamy silky texture of whole or 2%. Not quite milkshake creamy, but delicious nevertheless. The 1% version was creamier still.

The Farmers Cow milk is a premium milk brand that is marketed and produced by a cooperative of Connecticut family owned dairy farms. It boasts no growth hormones (I like that) and was created in response to consumers like me who are interested in buying local, fresh natural products. It’s currently available only in Connecticut. But perhaps if you ask them nicely your local dairy farmers will do the same.

I decided to test how the milk holds up in one of our family favorites: macaroni and cheese. I used the fat free milk and was really pleased at the consistency (full fat cheeses and quite a bit of butter probably helped with that). For good measure, I served the mac and cheese over spinach-it’s quite a nice combination. Feel free to toss in some sliced fresh garlic with the spinach if you would like, I didn’t have any on hand, but I think it would probably be a good addition.

Three Cheese Penne with Frizzled Shallots and Peppered Spinach

Frizzled Shallots:
Two shallots, peeled, very thinly sliced and separated into rings
2 teaspoons flour
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons butter
Mac and Cheese:
1 (16-ounce) box Mezze Penne
2 tablespoons butter, plus additional to butter the dish
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 2/3 cups fat free milk
1 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I used Cabot Reserve Cheddar)
1/2 cup shredded mild provolone cheese (I used Boar’s Head)
1/4 cup freshly grated good quality parmesan cheese
Peppered Spinach:
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 (8-ounce) package fresh baby spinach
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Butter the bottom and sides of a 2-quart baking dish. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To prepare the frizzled shallots, place the shallots in a small bowl and sprinkle with flour, cayenne pepper and kosher salt; toss gently to coat the shallots. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium high heat. When the butter is very hot, but not brown, add the shallots. Cook the shallots, turning frequently until lightly browned. Transfer shallots to a paper towel lined plate to drain; reserve the sauce pan with the drippings.

For the penne, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and stir in the penne; cook penne for one minute less than the directions on the box indicate. In the same saucepan used to cook the shallots, melt the two tablespoons of butter over medium high heat. Whisk in the flour and salt then cook, stirring, for one minute. Gradually whisk in the milk and cook, stirring, until smooth and thickened. Stir in the cheeses.

Drain the pasta and transfer to the buttered baking dish. Stir in the cheese sauce. Sprinkle with the frizzled shallots and the parmesan cheese and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.
While the penne and cheese is baking, heat the extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the spinach a handful at a time and cook, stirring, until wilted. Stir in the red pepper and the salt.

To serve, spoon a portion of the spinach onto each serving plate. Top the spinach with the penne; serve with an icy cold glass of Farmer’s Cow milk. Mmmm!