Blue Vinny Mac and Cheese

I was going through the pictures I took in Dorset during our last holidays. In Weymouth, to be precise. In this household, we love macaroni and cheese. My wife especially. But she loathe blue cheese. So she was devastated to learn that the one mac and cheese on the menu of the restaurant of the resort we were in was with Dorset Blue Vinny. Maybe I should say horrified. Be that as it may, since she would not try it, I did. Because I love to try local products when we go somewhere. And blue cheese and pasta is just my kind of thing. And I quite enjoyed it. The blue cheese really gave it a nice kick. As for my wife, well, at least she had the satisfaction that I had a veggie meal.

Witches Cauldron Mac and Cheese

For today's countdown to Halloween post, I will not go for the horror and macabre aspect of the holiday. Instead, I will blog about food. Halloween is, after all, a celebration of gluttony, read this post from 2011 for more details. So anyway, my wife cooks from Hello Fresh and these days they have Halloween themed dishes on their menu. So she recently made a Witches Cauldron Mac and Cheese. With pesto and other stuff. I took this picture. I should have taken it in the pan, it would have looked more like a cauldron. Be that as it may, it was delicious and it might become a staple for future Halloweens.

Le spécial au pub: macaroni au fromage

Photo prise au pub en fin de semaine, où ma femme y a mangé un macaroni au fromage. Celui de la photo. Ils font souvent des spéciaux sur les repas du midi dans les pubs, parmi les "pubs classics". Ça a coûté dix livres et quelque chose pour deux repas (sans compter l'alcool). Mais quand même, comme classique du pub anglais, mettons que c'est discutable. J'ai pris quelque chose de plus... classique. (Ça si vous tenez à le savoir. Mais il faut dire que c'est plus simple quand on n'est pas végétarien). Ce n'est pas non plus vraiment le temps pour manger un plat aussi lourd, même avec de la salade à côté. Le macaroni au fromage, je l'apprécie quand il fait plus frais.

Le retour du macaroni au fromage...

Bon, je ne voulais pas faire de billet gastronomique de si tôt, mais devinez ce qu'on a mangé récemment? Oui, le meilleur macaroni au fromage au monde (détails et recette ici). Le secret, ce sont les câpres et la moutarde de Dijon pour la saveur. Mais enfin bref, on avait décidé de le cuisiner pour de la visite (mon beau-frère, sa femme et notre nièce) venue voir le petit loup. Ils sont restés rien que pour un thé finalement, alors on a eu ça pour souper et pour nos autres soupers et c'est pas grave, parce que c'est aussi bon sinon meilleur réchauffé. Et c'est le temps idéal pour de la nourriture consistante. Morale de l'histoire: ils ont manqué quelque chose et vous aussi si vous ne l'essayez pas.

The world's greatest mac and cheese's growing popularity

This is a picture of the macaroni and cheese by Rose Elliot we made my wife and I during the Christmas holidays for my family. It was not our best take on it, not enough pasta or cheese, but my family enjoyed it all the same. You can find the recipe here. The secret ingredient to make it utterly delicious is Dijon mustard. Oh and capers of course. I am blogging about it because it is growing in popularity among my readership: I know of at least of two bloggers here who tried it. I hope you all do.

The world's greatest mac and cheese

Well, this is now official, the macaroni and cheese my wife found out in a Rose Elliot book is really the greatest macaroni and cheese in the whole world. Well, I am exaggerating, what I mean is that we made it during the Christmas holidays to my family and they loved it. It was strange, because we didn't do it so well on that occasion. But it impressed my parents enough to try it for themselves. We had given them the recipe, which you can find on this post. My mum used Cracker Barrel cheese on top. Anyway, for no better reason that it now crossed the Atlantic and it was a roaring success in the family, I am plugging it again, with a picture my father took of their version. This is, in my opinion, the world's greatest mac and cheese.

The best macaroni and cheese

I recently blogged about the very best macaroni and cheese I ever had, in a French post, which had a lot of success. Ironically enough, it was a success among my English readers. It is a recipe from a Rose Elliot book, my wife is quite fond of her cooking. As it is the first Monday of November, thus a doubly dreary Monday, I thought I would plug again the macaroni and cheese and give the recipe, a courtesy of my wife, who wrote it all in a blog comment last time. The secret is, I think, the capers and especially the Dijon mustard. They really make the recipe stand out. Anyway, here it is:

350g macaroni
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons plain flour
1 pint of milk
150g boursin cheese with herbs & garlic or black pepper (optional)
1-2 heaped teaspoons of Dijon mustard
2-3 tablespoons of capers
250 g strong cheddar cheese, grated
Freshly grated nutmeg
250g cherry tomatoes, halved
Salt and pepper
1. Cook pasta

2. Put olive oil in another pan, add the flour. Stir for a minute or two, until smooth, then add milk, a quarter at a time, whisking after each addition to make a thick sauce.

3. Remove from heat, and add the Boursin, cheddar (leaving a handful), mustard, capers – and then the cooked, drained macaroni.

4. Season with grated nutmeg, salt and pepper, then gently stir in the cherry tomatoes.

5. Put it into baking dish, adding cheddar over top. Cook for 30 mins at gas mark 6/200 C until bubbly and golden.

Macaroni au fromage (le meilleur)

C'est un macaroni (en fait on devrait dire des macaroni) au fromage que ma femme et moi avons fait il y a quelques semaines, quand il a commencé à faire plus frais. C'est de loin la meilleure recette de macaroni au fromage que je connaisse: béchamel avec Boursin et un fromage dur mature (un cheddar par exemple), des tomates et finalement des câpres, l'ingrédient qui fait la différence. Pour le gratin, le même fromage mature pour le couvrir. C'est bon pas rien qu'un peu. Lors d'une soirée froide et grise ou après une dure journée de travail, c'est le traitement prescrit pour le souper. Alors voilà: essayez-le et donnez-moi des nouvelles.

Moutarde de Dijon et sagesse gastronomique

Il n'y a pas si longtemps, ma femme et moi avons fait des légumes gratinés au fromage. Conformément à la recette que l'on avait, on y avait ajouté de la moutarde de Dijon. Ce qui m'a fait penser à une perle de sagesse gastronomique que j'ai apprise avec le temps: la moutarde de Dijon, ça donne de la saveur à tout, ou presque. Les macaroni au fromage, les hamburgers, les hot dogs (tant qu'ils ne sont pas américains, dans ce cas de la moutarde américaine suffira), les roast beefs et la mayonnaise bien entendu (essayez avec de la moutarde en poudre, c'est déjà moins bon). Alors voilà, assurez-vous que vous avez toujours un pot de moutarde de Dijon pour cuisiner.

The mac and cheese controversy

Last week, two colleagues of mine, one English one American, were discussing about macaroni and cheese.I was not paying much attention to it, but then the American one started laughing as if he had heard the strangest thing. He asked: "Really, you put mustard in your mac and cheese? Who does that?" The British one asked me to take part in the debate and I took his side. The American thought it was a very odd choice of flavoring for the dish. I did not do this when I used to make macaroni and cheese back in Québec, my recipe was with four different cheeses, taken from a book mum bought me for my first year at university. It was quite bland. I guess it was not meant to be high gastronomy. But I discovered a few recipes that do include mustard, and it gives flavor to the dish and fancies it up. With Dijon mustard, it is borderline decadent. Anybody else have mustard in mac and cheese? I wonder if it gives snobbery to the quintessential comfort food meal, but it is really good. In any case, it made for a subject of debate at work.