mac and cheese

[noveldevice]

radiatore pasta (boil in salted water as usual etc)

bechamel until it is enough
about a cup of shredded cheddar
a good lump of bleu cheese, crumbled
salt and pepper

Stir the two together in an oven safe bowl with a cover, top with breadcrumbs and dabs of butter like a crumble, cover, bake at 350 for 20 minutes, then uncover and bake for as long as it takes to wash the dishes by hand. Remove from oven and nom.

For next time: more kinds of cheese, a little dab of mustard, possibly some cayenne pepper, and hopefully washing the dishes in the dishwasher (our dishwasher is supposed to be fixed early next week!).

Comments

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

The cheddar was good, but I think it needs some more strongly-flavoured cheeses, or else something that's just cheese on crack like edam. Possibly some jack or something. The cheddar gave it a lovely colour though. Maybe also pine nuts in the bread crumbs, finely chopped.

I am getting the hang of bechamels and really proud of myself for it. I made my first bechamel perfectly and then consistently broke them and had to rescue them for the next six years. Quite suddenly about a month ago I found the knack.

Our building repair guy will worry about that; luckily we're on what is euphemistically called the "garden" level so our floors are concrete, and the nearest carpeting is a good six feet away in any direction. The daniel is having trouble with his dishwasher lately too; 'tis the season, I suppose.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

So, what, do you think, is the knack to bechamel?

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

I think it's the timing. I'm getting a feel for when to put the flour in, when to add the milk and how much milk to add at a time...I think that's most of it, to be honest. I believe my bechamels usually broke because I put the flour in too late, when all the water from the butter had already boiled away, and then when I added the milk I did it too tentatively and scalded it, and between the milk flash-boiling away and the roux being more like half-burnt wallpaper paste, when I finally grew a pair and added enough milk that it didn't just instantly boil away, the roux would break and the sauce that resulted after I'd managed to rescue it would be grainy.