We consider ourselves 'foodies' therefore we decided to create a blog of our culinary escapades. Alessa's gay boyfriend (Nicholas)to be known as GBF from here on out will be joining us frequently in our adventures. Because this blog was something of an impluse (you know like the candy bars by the checkout counter) we will each add an introduction of ourselves at a later time.
Some of our entries will be original recipes or expirementations, others will be the original recipes we used as inspiration and the changes/additions we made, then we will list our critiques and our ideas for changes we will make for the next go around.
We of course decided to do a blog upon completion of this recipe, so we didn't take pictures of the beatiful completed dish before we broke into it. In future we will include pictures.
Our first recipe entry is the good old Comfort Food of Macaroni and Cheese.
Our inspiration recipe is as follows:
From www.AllRecipes.com Wisconsin Five-Cheese Bake
SUBMITTED BY: Kim B.
(the original recipe was for 12 servings below you see the conversion we made for 4 servings)
INGREDIENTS
1/3 (16 ounce) package elbow macaroni
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup shredded provolone cheese
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons sour cream
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
1/8 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni, and cook until tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain.
In a large bowl, toss together the mozzarella cheese, Swiss cheese, Parmesan cheese and Provolone cheese. Remove about 1/2 cup for topping and set aside. In a separate bowl, stir together the ricotta cheese, sour cream and heavy cream. Season with parsley, Italian seasoning and garlic salt.
Pour the ricotta cheese mixture and drained macaroni into the bowl with the cheeses and toss lightly. Do not mix too thoroughly, it's better left messy. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the reserved cheese over the top.
Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is melted, about 10 minutes, then turn the oven to broil. Broil for about 5 minutes to brown the top
We decided to switch up some of the cheeses and add a few ingredients, we also used a Whole Wheat Penne in place of the Elbow Macaroni.
INGREDIENTS
1/2 (13.5 ounce) package Whole Wheat Penne
1/3 cup shredded Tillamook Medium Ceddar cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1/3 cup grated Gruyere
1/3 cup shredded Maple Leaf Smoked Gouda cheese
1/4 Precious Low Fat Ricotta cheese
2 1/2 tablespoons light sour cream
3 tablespoons half and half
3 slices thick cut bacon
1 Shallot
2 large cloves garlic
Bread Crumbs
Pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray 9 inch glass loaf pan.
Cook the bacon, crumble when cooled.
Chop shallot and garlic then lightly carmelize over medium high heat.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook al dente, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain. In a large bowl, toss together the 4 hard cheeses. In a separate bowl, stir together the ricotta cheese, sour cream and half and half. Pour the ricotta cheese mixture, drained macaroni, Shallots, garlic and crumbled bacon into the bowl with the cheeses and toss lightly. Do not mix too thoroughly, it's better left messy. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the bread crumbs and pepper over the top. Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is melted, about 15 minutes, then turn the oven to broil. Broil for about 5 minutes to brown the top
Our Critique:
The flavor and aroma was quite nice, the smoked Gouda complimented the bacon wonderfully, however the texture was not creamy like you would expect a homemade Mac and cheese to be.
GBF stoped by after work to give his opinion (and get a free meal), his vote was a win overall but agreed with us on the texture.
The general consensus was we used too many hard cheese so it just didn't melt quite right.
So the changes we are making for Round 2 of Baked Mac and Cheese.
Replace the 1/3 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano with 1/3 cup shredded Jack Cheese
Replace the 1/3 cup grated Gruyere with 1/3 cup Shredded Provolone
Relace the bread crumbs with crushed Cheddar Harvest Sun Chips to give the topping a bit more flavor.
We also decided to use a more shallow pan, so a glass 9x9 or 8x8 square baking dish instead of the loaf pan.
I agree on the hard cheese, but it makes a wonderful garnish!
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