What I had on hand was cheddar, colby jack, parmesan, and mozzarella. However, I realized that we’ve put cheddar on an awful lot of things lately. Third, use cheese you like! I had planned to stick to cheddar alone. What I found was that Aldi’s frozen broccoli already comes in 12-ounce bags, so why bother weighing a fresh head of the stuff and dismantling it myself? Nuke it for 3 minutes so it’s mostly cooked just before you add in your cheese. Second, it’s totally fine to use frozen broccoli. Ultimately, it’s just a bit of a time saver. Then, you can start melting your butter, and pour the pasta into the boiling water at the same time. I went so far as to set up a whole mise en place situation, everything measured out and in cute little cups ready to grab and toss in. So, start boiling your water, and then gather your ingredients. The sauce is going to take at least 10 minutes to cook. There are couple tips that are probably no-brainers, but I’m going to write them up anyways.įirst, boil your pasta as you’re cooking your sauce. You can season with salt and pepper if you want. So, the final step is to turn off the heat, dump in the cheese, and whisk it until it’s smooth. It’s not that hard… I’m just writing this all out because I’ve literally messed it up a hundred times before and blamed roux and béchamel every time. Then, you’ll bring the sauce to a simmer for 5 minutes. I’ve made gravy before where I poured in the broth and then started whisking. Going Slow is the Key to Successful Sauces Then I slowly drizzled in the milk while whisking. Once I felt that the roux was cooked enough, I slowly drizzled in the chicken broth while whisking. I like a longer cooked roux than some people, so if you’re antsy after 1 minute, go with it. I whisked this together and let the flour cook in for another 2 minutes. Then, you will sprinkle the flour evenly over the whole pan. I’d say this takes about 2 minutes, but a minute longer won’t hurt. Keep the onions moving in the butter until they’ve started to turn golden. I usually do a rough chop and pretend it’s minced. I love it!įun fact, for once, I actually practiced some proper knife skills and really minced. Onions and butter are always a fragrant mood booster. Before the flour even goes in, I sautéed minced onion with the butter. So, I melted one tablespoon of butter to start. For someone who claimed to be able to always taste the flour, this sure was a surprise. It starts with a 1:2 fat to flour ratio roux. The Cheese Sauce You Never Knew You Needed Who knows? But I do know that, after lots of testing, I have a better handle on cheese sauce. Maybe the 1:1 ratio just wasn’t doing it for me. So, here I am, retracting that statement because I was clearly just eating poorly made béchamels. Not only that, I’ve expressed my hatred for mac that has spent time in the oven getting dry and hard. I’m throwing myself under the bus a little bit because I have in no uncertain terms spoken out about hating macaroni and cheese recipes that have flour in the base. Béchamel and the Foot in My Mouthĭon’t you love it when you make a sweeping statement about a certain food and almost immediately find the counterargument? Well, if you look back to my post on French Onion Mac and Cheese, you’ll remember that I made an ignorant carte blanche statement about hating béchamel based sauces. And honestly, broccoli and cheese is its own basic food group. Why? Because as perfect as this macaroni and cheese recipe is, I feel like a bad mom if I don’t serve some veggies with it. So, when it came to finding the absolute best macaroni and cheese recipe out there, you should know that I spent a good part of my adult years working on finding and perfecting it. I’m the woman who couldn’t eat anything but *specifically* Annie’s Homegrown macaroni and cheese for the first 16 weeks of my pregnancy, and I’m the woman who makes microwave mac and cheese any time there’s a box of elbow macaroni in the pantry. So, when I say that this broccoli macaroni and cheese is worth the time and effort, I mean it. If it’s on the menu, even as a side or on the kids’ menu, my mouth waters, and I have to order it. When I say that macaroni and cheese is my favorite food, I mean it.
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