By Request: Mac & Cheese

Another request today, an easy mac & cheese recipe! This comes from the NYTimes cooking collection (the original recipe can be found here if you subscribe) with some helpful tips to make this pantry & freezer cooking.

Here served with baked beans (alas, from a can this time) and ribs — we use Penzey’s 33rd & Galena Rub, and then some homemade blueberry barbecue sauce. (I make a lot of that after blueberry picking every summer, then then freeze it for the winter. That recipe can be found here. It’s good on chicken, pork, duck, lamb…).

Although we all may be looking for recipes that take time these days, this recipe has two time-savers: Unlike many mac & cheese recipes, you don’t cook the pasta first, and you don’t make a roux.

Easy Mac & Cheese

• ½ pound elbow pasta, about 2 cups (really do measure this out, otherwise there’s not enough liquid for the amount of pasta)

• 1 pound cheese (I like 8 ounces Cheddar, 8 ounces Monterey Jack)

• 2 cups milk (lowfat or whole, NOT skim)

• 1 cup ricotta or cottage cheese, which is ½ of most containers (lowfat or whole, NOT fat free)

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon pepper

• 1 teaspoon dry mustard

• Dash of ground nutmeg

• Dash of cayenne pepper, or more to taste (or serve with hot sauce!)

• Optional: ½ cup panko crumbs (or more if desired)

• 1 Tablespoon butter (and add more, or some olive oil, if you use more panko crumbs)

Pantry cooking tips: This uses half of most standard containers of ricotta or cottage cheese. But if you don’t want to make it a second time right away, you can freeze the remaining ricotta or cottage cheese. If you want to make sure you’ve put milk aside, you can also measure out and 2 cups for another time. The cheese we like, Cabot bricks, usually has dates that are far enough out that there’s nothing special you have to do about storing it; it’ll be fine in the fridge. I have never used pre-shredded cheese – but please tell me if you try that! I’d love to know how it turns out! And, of course, just leave the other half of the box of pasta in the cupboard!

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a casserole dish, covered if you have one (if not, foil will be fine), with cooking spray or butter. (This will make clean up easier later.)

Use the shredding disk on your food processor to shred the cheese. (You can use a box shredder if you don’t have a food processor.) If you are using the optional bread crumbs, set aside about ¼-⅓ cup of cheese shreds in a small bowl. Put remaining cheese, or all cheese, in a large bowl with the uncooked pasta.

Remove the shredding disk and insert the chopping blade. Add the milk, ricotta or cottage cheese, salt, pepper, dry mustard, nutmeg, and cayenne. Process for 30-45 seconds. (You can use a blender or an immersion blender in a large bowl if you don’t have a food processor.)

Add the milk mixture to the cheese and pasta. Mix with a large spoon to combine. Pour into the prepared casserole dish and level the top. Cover tightly with the lid or foil, and cook for 30 minutes.

During this period of baking, for the optional crumb topping, melt butter in a small skillet and add panko crumbs. Toast, stirring constantly, until light brown, and remove from the heat. Depending on your pan, if it retains a lot of heat, the crumbs may continue to brown for a little bit even off the heat, so keep an eye on them so the crumbs don’t burn.

After the first 30 minutes of baking, remove the lid or foil. If you have reserved ¼-⅓ cup of cheese shreds, spread that over the top now and then add the optional toasted crumbs. Return to the oven uncovered for another 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool 15 minutes before serving.