First RV Trip of 2023 – Day 1 - Mac & Cheese

It never ceases to amaze me how often issues will crop up a day or two before we plan to leave on a vacation trip and it’s been happening for years.  Before Monday’s departure on this trip, the house water heater quit working on Saturday and then when I turned the water on to the dock for the season so Karen could clean it while we were gone, I discovered that the main pipe was broken.

So, Monday morning, the plumber took care of the water heater and I decided not to worry about the water line until we got home on Friday, so we were able to get all packed and hit the road for the hour and a half drive to Blue Water Resort and Marina in Dayton, TN, pulling in about 4pm.

That evening, the club provided pork for supper and we all brought a dish to go with it and ours was mac and cheese.  I looked at my recipes and around the web and decided on the recipe for The Best Homemade Baked Mac and Cheese from Trisha’s “Mom On Timeout” blog.  It was pretty simple, sounded tasty, and I had all of the ingredients – I started out to make it like the recipe but ended up making a few changes.  You can click on the link above for the original recipe.

The Best Homemade Baked Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

16 oz elbow macaroni, cooked (or other tubular pasta)

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

6 tbsp unsalted butter

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy whipping cream

4 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded (1lb)

2 cups Gruyere Emmentaler cheese shredded (8oz)

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups panko crumbs

4 tbsp butter melted

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese shredded

1/4 tsp smoked paprika (or regular paprika)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a large 3 qt or 4 qt baking dish and set aside.

2. Combine shredded cheeses in a large bowl and set aside.

3. Cook the pasta one minute shy of al dente according to the package instructions. Remove from heat, drain, and place in a large bowl.

4. Drizzle pasta with olive oil and stir to coat pasta. Set aside to cool while preparing cheese sauce.

5. Melt butter in a deep saucepan, Dutch oven, or stock pot.

6. Whisk in flour over medium heat and continue whisking for about 1 minute until bubbly and golden.

7. Gradually whisk in the milk and heavy cream until nice and smooth. Continue whisking until you see bubbles on the surface and then continue cooking and whisking for another 2 minutes. Whisk in salt and pepper.

8. Add two cups of shredded cheese and whisk until smooth. Stir in another two cups of shredded cheese, then the final two cups of cheese and continue whisking until creamy and smooth. Sauce should be nice and thick.

9. Stir in the cooled pasta until combined and pasta is fully coated with the cheese sauce.

Note: I stirred in the sauce a dipper at a time and when I had plenty, I still had quite a bit left in the pan, so I cooked another half-pound of pasta, added it with the remaining cheese and it still had more than enough, or so I thought until I baked it.

10. Pour the mac and cheese into the prepared baking dish – it filled an 11x13 dish.

11. In a small bowl, combine panko crumbs, Parmesan cheese, melted butter and paprika. Sprinkle over the top and bake until bubbly and golden brown, about 30 minutes. 

It was very good and I got several positive comments, but after baking it I discovered I should not have added the extra pasta as it wasn't quite cheesy enough then.

As always, when people bring food to a pot luck there is lots of good food and we had plenty of leftovers.  They had a very nice pavilion attached to the office building and over looking the water for us to use.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

05/08/23 meal date