BAKED MAC n CHEESE

 

Kindly do spend a minute admiring that lone cherry tomato on top. Skip and I planted tomato seeds last year which bore fruit this year. A year of waiting yielded two fruits! Skip and I tenderly plucked the first one, washed it gently under a trickle of water, dried it with the softest muslin, lovingly rolled it about in our palms and then placed it on the board and sliced it into two. The second tomato went on top of this pasta.

 

Speaking of tomatoes, for a month, I was sans any help in the kitchen. Skip and Sky did help around with washing and drying the dishes but cooking was turning out to be a pain in my lower back. Our daily meal schedule was disrupted as I got caught with other chores and at times, I’d end up cooking a dish at the time we were supposed to have begun eating it. On one such day, it was already 8pm (we eat at 7 pm) and I had just begun to make chicken curry. I got the blender out to grind the tomatoes and even as I picked the smallest of the three jars, I knew it was the wrong choice. In 5 seconds, there was tomato puree splashed all across the kitchen, even behind me!

 

After letting out a loud wail of ‘Why God, Why’ and contemplating giving off the uncooked chicken to the Puppy, I went ahead and cleaned the kitchen and Sky and I enjoyed a delicious meal of Chicken curry and rice.

 

Lesson learnt. I now do not use the smallest jar even if it meant grinding just two cloves, three peppercorns and a spoonful of coriander seeds and ending up with unground spices. Why God, Why!!!

 

Skip and Sky love pasta and I love cooking it. I also like to add a lot of vegetables in the pasta. I usually make the stove top version. Skip prefers it runny and creamy and once you bake it, it loses that runny texture. I prefer the baked one, only because I like the cheesy, crunchy topping.

 

If you like it runny, you can stop at Step 8. If you don’t like veggies, you may skip adding them. You can also add, boiled, shredded and seasoned chicken or cooked chicken sausages/bacon into the pasta. If you like your pasta simple, I also have the recipe for Macaroni in Mushroom Sauce and if you like it with red sauce, I have the Pasta in Arrabiata Sauce on my blog.

 

If you enjoy the recipes, please do follow me on Facebook and Instagram @lucilucent. Also, when you try out these recipes, please do DM images of the same and I shall share them on my Instagram page. Thank you.

    

                                                                                                 

BAKED MAC n CHEESE  (with veggies)

Ingredients:

Macaroni – 2 cups
Water -  3 cups
Butter – 2 tbsp
Olive oil- 1 tbsp
Chopped onions – ½ cup
Chopped garlic – 2 tbsp
Sliced mushrooms –  1 cup
Paneer (cottage cheese) - 1 cup
Peas – ½ cup
Boiled sweet corn – ½ cup
Steamed broccoli – 1 cup
Carrot – 1 (sliced) 
Maida (all purpose flour) – 2-3 tbsps
Milk +Water – 2 cups
Cheese – ½ cup (or 2 cheese slices)
Salt, Pepper, Oregano
Mozzarella – ½ cup
Bread crumbs – ½ cup 

Method:

1.   Heat 3 cups water and once it begins to boil, add the macaroni to it along with a tsp of salt and few drops of oil. Once the macaroni is cooked (in less than 10 minutes), drain the water and keep aside.

2.     Heat the butter in a large saucepan, add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions soften and turn pink.

3.  Add the mushrooms and cook until they brown. Add the remaining vegetables and cook until they have softened

4.     Add olive oil to the vegetables and give it a quick stir and then add the flour and keep stirring it for a minute until the vegetables are coated with the flour.

5.  Add the milk and water mixture gradually, mixing well to make sure that no lumps form.

6.      Add the cheese and stir until the cheese melts.

7.      Once the sauce begins to boil, add the salt, pepper and oregano.

8.     Add the cooked macaroni into the sauce and let it cook for a minute or two.

9. (The Pasta is ready to be eaten at this stage.)

10. Transfer the contents to a baking dish. Sprinkle shredded mozzarella on top and top it with bread crumbs.

11. Bake at 180C until the crumbs have browned a bit (about 10 mins).

12. Done.