Down With The Blue Box

So the other day I was straightening out the shelves at work and making a mental list of the items I needed to reorder when I came upon the boxed macaroni and cheese. It amazes me that anyone still eats that stuff; obviously they don’t read the ingredients. It’s not even cheese in those boxes, it’s processed, dried cheese food; plus the macaroni isn’t even curved, which I find to be kind of creepy. Anyway, uninformed people have been eating this stuff since 1937 when Kraft unleashed it on Depression stricken people.

Macaroni and cheese can trace its roots back to Italy where it is more commonly known as Pasta Alfredo; it was brought across the Atlantic by Thomas Jefferson in the late 1790’s. American cooks took this recipe and ran with it, but changed the cheese to the more abundant varieties locally and by 1859 the dish was appearing on tavern menus. (Incidentally the Nahant House in Lynn, Massachusetts was the first to feature it on their menu).

People tell me that they make the boxed macaroni and cheese because it is quick and easy; well I bet that I can make it from scratch in the same amount of time. Plus my homemade version is not full of preservatives and tastes like actual cheese, because it uses actual cheese. How novel an idea!

Ready, set, go! Put a pot of water on to boil, this will take about ten minutes; once it boils add some salt and one box of macaroni. Let this cook for about eight to ten more minutes till al dente. This gives me give or take twenty minutes to make a cheese sauce from scratch; I don’t know about you but I think I can do it. Start the sauce by melting a quarter cup of butter to which you add a quarter cup of flour (a roux), cook this for a minute so that it doesn’t taste like wallpaper paste. Then stir in a forth of a teaspoon each of Worcestershire sauce and dry ground mustard, salt and pepper. Once this is smooth and bubbly add two cups of milk and bring it to a boil, when this mixture thickens add two cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese and stir the mixture until everything is melted together. All you have to do now is add the drained pasta to the cheese and mix well; voila homemade macaroni and cheese in about twenty minutes.

So now that I have shown you that no one really needs to torture themselves by eating the boxed version let’s turn up the volume. First I’m going to let you in on a little secret; I can’t eat plain macaroni and cheese, I need meat in my meals. I love meat and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Hence I always add some sort of protein to this dish when I make it.

Consider the recipe that I just gave you the basic recipe and everything that follows will just be changes on those basics. There was this woman I used to know who refused to change how she made macaroni and cheese because it was her mother’s recipe; how boring, who wants to go through life eating the same thing all the time. (PS she also refused to get rid of her mom jeans, which is almost criminal). Every recipe out there can be adjusted to suit your tastes, just because mom made it a certain way doesn’t mean it always has to be made that way. Anyway, two years ago I tweaked a recipe that ended up being out of this world, Baked Macaroni, Sausage and Gouda. The first thing you have to do is caramelize two and a half pounds of onions in a mixture of butter and olive oil. Once they begin to soften add salt, pepper, a teaspoon of dried thyme and two teaspoons of sugar and cook until the onions are golden brown, about twenty minutes. (Obviously this version will take longer than the basic recipe). Now omit the mustard and Worcestershire sauce and substitute Gouda for cheddar, all the other steps are the same. Once the cheese sauce is done mix in the pasta, onions and one and a half pounds of cooked sweet Italian turkey sausage. Pour it into a buttered baking dish and bake at 350 degrees about twenty minutes or until golden and bubbly.

There are a million combinations you can come up with for this dish all you need is a little creativity. The grocery stores all have great international cheese sections where you can find a ton of different brands and flavors to play with. Try mixing a horseradish cheddar cheese sauce with freshly made bacon bits, or a Swiss cheese sauce with ham and chicken. You can even make your own version of Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger Macaroni by combining cheddar cheese and cooked ground beef. Just please don’t let me know that you are using Velveeta instead of real cheese because that it just as bad as making the box version.

I recently saw on television how to turn a sandwich classic into a pot of macaroni and cheese; so let’s try a Reuben and Cuban version. For the Reuben add two cups of Swiss cheese to your thickened milk mixture to which you need to add about a tablespoon of spicy brown mustard, one small bag of rinsed and drained sauerkraut and about three quarters of a pound of diced deli corned beef. Stir this all together with a pound of cooked pasta. For the Cuban version add two cups of shredded Swiss cheese to the milk mixture and stir in a tablespoon of yellow mustard. To this sauce add about a cup of diced dill pickles and three quarters of a pound of diced deli ham. Both of these versions have all the flavors of these classic deli sandwiches and are yummy.

Okay, so now that we have made this beautiful pan of cheesy heaven what do we do with the leftovers? Honestly this is not a meal that reheats or freezes well so cooks had to get creative and what they came up with was Macaroni and Cheese Croquettes.

These are very easy to make but they turn a less than figure-friendly meal into a downright sinful one. Start by taking your leftovers and form them into one inch balls, roll them in breadcrumbs, then an egg and water mixture, than back into the breadcrumbs. Brown the balls in oil (canola or vegetable) that is heated to 360 degrees. These are usually served as appetizers.

Hopefully I have convinced you that making a homemade macaroni and cheese is incredibly easy and versatile. I promise once you get the basic recipe down pat you will never go back to the blue box again. Sorry Kraft.


Basic Macaroni and Cheese

1 box Macaroni, cooked al dente
¼ cup Butter
¼ cup flour
¼ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp. Dried mustard
Salt & Pepper
2 cups Milk
2 cups Shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Boil the macaroni in salted water about 8-10 minutes until al dente, drain and set aside. Melt the butter in a pot and stir in the flour, cook a minute or so before adding the next three ingredients. Cook this a few minutes until bubbly and smooth. Whisk in the milk and bring to a boil before adding the cheese. Cook until melted and then add the macaroni, stir well.


Baked Macaroni, Turkey Sausage and Smoked Gouda

2 ½ lbs. Onions, sliced thin
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Pepper
1 tsp. Dried thyme
2 tsp. Sugar
1 box Short cut pasta, al dente
1 ½ lbs. Italian turkey sausage, cooked & crumbled
Basic cheese sauce

Sauté onions in a mixture of olive oil and butter until just soft, add the next four ingredients and cook about 20 more minutes, until browned. Cook the pasta according to the box direction to be al dente, drain and set aside. Make the basic cheese sauce omitting the Worcestershire and mustard and exchanging the cheddar for smoked gouda cheese. Mix the pasta and cooked sausage into the cheese sauce, mix well and pour into a buttered baking dish. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.


Reuben Macaroni and Cheese

1 box Short cut pasta, al dente
1 Tlbsp Spicy brown mustard
1 bag Sauerkraut, rinsed & drained
¾ lb. Deli corned beef, diced
Basic cheese sauce

Cook pasta according to box directions until al dente, drain and set aside. Make the basic cheese sauce exchanging the cheddar for Swiss cheese. Mix in the remaining ingredients and add the pasta.


Cuban Macaroni and Cheese

1 box Short cut pasta, al dente
1 Tlbsp. Yellow mustard
1 cup Dill pickles, diced
¾ Lb. Deli ham, diced
Basic cheese sauce

Cook pasta according to box directions until al dente, drain and set aside. Make the basic cheese exchanging the cheddar for Swiss cheese. Mix in the remaining ingredients and add the pasta.