My take on a Mac & Cheese recipe

And the road to our 2020 Holidays begin NOW!

If you follow me on Instagram, you were kind of expecting this post already. This is the first post of my Thanksgiving Series where at the end I will put together a simple menu that you can do for you and the people you will spend this holiday with.

HUGE DISCLAIMER

You know I usually try to post and share healthy-ish recipes, but this is different guys, 2020 has been HARD on everyone and we all deserve some good carbs and fat this November and December, am I right?

I’ve never really wanted to explore Mac & Cheese and I’m not getting into the details here BUT I decided that I needed to make my own version and of course there’s some mascarpone and spices involved. Let’s say that my take on Mac & Cheese is sort of a mix of maybe a carbonara in texture and some alfredo sauce? Anyway, believe me when I say you WILL like this recipe. It is very easy to put together.

PS. Please try to adhere to these ingredients, it’s really worth it.

INGREDIENTS (4-5 GOOD portions)

• 1 – 8 oz container of mascarpone cheese.

• 1 – 8 oz container of crème fraiche.

• 2 cups of BLENDED parmesan cheese (this means you’ll have to cut a block of cheese and blend it). Note: If you are using already grated parmesan, please use 2.5 cups. If you love parmesan cheese, you can always add more.

• 1 tbsp of butter.

• 1 cup of pasta water.

• 1 ½ tsp of kosher salt.

• 1 tbsp of freshly ground black pepper.

• 1 ½ tsp of garlic powder.

• 1 ½ tsp of onion powder.

• The zest of 1 lime (not lemon).

• 1 – 16 oz packet of radiator pasta. I decided to use this pasta because of its shape, it holds really well my sauce AND its pretty to look at. You can use almost any shape of short pasta for this dish, but I highly encourage you to have fun deciding!

• ½ cup of panko breadcrumbs and ½ cup of parmesan cheese.

• ½ cup roughly chopped Parsley.

PROCEDURE

1. Cook your pasta according to the directions of the box you have, drain the pasta and reserve. Save 2 cups of pasta water in a container for later and reserve.

2. In a medium saucepan in low heat, melt the butter and add the parmesan cheese. Use a whisk to incorporate vigorously, you will notice the cheese will separate but all you have to do is keep whisking. Add 1 cup of warm pasta water and whisk again for about 2 minutes until a sauce starts to form.

3. Turn off the heat. Add crème fraiche, mascarpone cheese, salt, pepper, onion and garlic and whist vigorously again until you get a cheese sauce (as in the pictures above these lines), make sure to taste and correct the seasoning if you feel it needs it.

4. Use a casserole dish to mix the pasta, cheese sauce and lime zest, just fold all the ingredients together carefully.

You can 100% serve this mac and cheese like this, but if you want to go and extra mile do this.

• Top your mac and cheese casserole with a mixture of panko and parmesan cheese and broil in your oven for 5 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

To serve, just add some chopped parsley and enjoy!

My husband really wanted to add some Fresno pepper on top and that’s actually a good idea, something for you to think about.

I really hope these recipes are useful to you and I really hope you guys celebrate in a safely manner.

More to come!