Thomas Keller's Macaroni Gratin (a very dignified mac n cheese)

The 3 year old (read Ro) has been nagging me AGAIN! This time for macaroni and cheese of all the things. I have tried making mac & cheese so many times but it has always failed. I mean taste-wise its kinda fine, but I've never really got the consistency, the sauce or the look (????!!!!) right. Marks & Spencer has a good mac n cheese in their ready to eat section and I've resigned to buying it from there whenever I'm craving it.

So the other day Ro comes home from work and he's craving mac n cheese. I give him the brilliant idea of popping over to M&S and picking up a tub but no, he wants his super awesome food blogger wife (exact words) to make it instead. Sweet talking me into anything works, except cooking. I don't fall for it..never have and I'm pretty sure I never will. I tell him it takes at least 2 hours for me to make it and that I'm craving Chinese instead and he instantly changes his mind. We head to our favourite Chinese joint just down the road and are both happy. Ro more than me for some reason. How can someone juts let go of a craving like that???

Weeks passed and the mac n cheese idea was long forgotten. Everything was fine with the world, until I stumbled upon Ellie's stylish mac n cheese. Now when I crave something, its different..I have to have it no matter what. I've dragged Ro to a zillion stores and restaurants at ungodly hours just because I wanted the perfect churro or the perfect espresso coffee and baked at 10 in the night because I wanted something warm and sweet out of the oven.  He humours me most of the time, but otherwise tells me to piss off or make my own espresso at home.

So anyways, I'd bookmarked the recipe and decided to make it on a day I was lazy. mac n cheese, how long can it take anyway??? Apparently quite long. Its only after I started that I actually read what Ellie had written...30 minutes for the sauce alone...Ro was gonna get back home soon and I didn't have dinner ready (this after teasing him all day saying oh you are soo gonna thank me for tonights dinner). I almost changed my mind and postponed mac n cheese for a day I was proactive, and that's when Ro called to say he was grabbing a couple of drinks with his colleagues and would be home a bit late, but would definitely come for dinner (I didn't tease him any more..yeah sure, was my calm reply).

I started off the cooking process and this is no simple mac n cheese to make but taste-wise it was probably the best mac n cheese I ever had. It cannot really be called mac n CHEESE because its more of the white sauce that adds the richness than the cheese per se. Maybe that's what I liked about it because too much cheese can make it oily and unappetising, It cannot be whipped up in no time and you need to have immense patience. But the recipe is a total keeper, and so I'm penning it down for a day I'm super proactive and want to make gourmet mac n cheese :)

Recipe halved from here, originally from Thomas Keller's cookbook Bouchon

Macaroni- 115 gms (approx. 4 oz) (I used spirali since I already had a pack with me)

Cooked Ham/ Bacon- 1/4 cup, diced (I used bacon)

Grated nutmeg- a pinch

Thyme- 1 tsp, minced

Parmessan cheese- 1/4 cup, grated

Bread crumbs- 2 tbsp

Salt and pepper- to taste

Mornay sauce- 1 1/2 cups (recipe below)

Mornay sauce

Butter- 2 tbsp

White onion- 1/3 cup, diced (half of one large onion)

All purpose flour- 2 tbsp

Milk- 1 1/3 cup

Heavy cream- 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp

Bay leaf- 1

Peppercorns- 2

Whole cloves- 2

Ground Nutmeg- a pinch

Cheddar cheese- 1/4 cup

To make the sauce, place a diffuser (a tawa or so) on medium heat and a large saucepan on it.

Melt the butter and add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook stirring occasionally for about 3 minutes or until the onion turns translucent.

Sprinkle the flour and cook for a further 3 minutes, whisking constantly and making sure the roux doesn't burn.

Whisking constantly pour the milk and cream till they are mixed well.

Bring to a simmer and then add the bay leaf, black peppercorns and cloves.

Reduce heat to low and continue to simmer, whisking in between to make sure the sauce doesn't get burnt and doesn't form clumps. If it does, like Ellie says, pour into a new pan and continue the process instead of scraping the bottom.

Let it stay on a gentle simmer for about 30 minutes until the sauce becomes nice and thick, but smooth.

Take it off the flame, remove the peppercorns, cloves and bay leaf and add the cheese. Whisk to melt

You can use this sauce immediately or can make it the previous day or a week in advance and store it in the refrigerator. To thin it out later, if needed, add a dash of heavy cream to it.

Assembling:

Cook the macaroni according to the instructions on the cover. Drain and keep aside.

If the Mornay sauce was just made, then take it off the flame and into it add the cooked macaroni and bacon. Mix well and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.

It may look a bit loose, but not to worry the macaroni will absorb the sauce while baking.

Pour into a baking dish or individual gratin dishes. Sprinkle with cheese and thyme, followed by bread crumbs

Bake in an oven pre-heated at 190C for 15 to 20 minutes or till the sauce bubbles at the sides.

If you want to brown the top a bit, turn on the grill for about 6 to 8 minutes.

Serve with garlic bread or on its own.

Notes: The taste of thyme and nutmeg was distinct and I loved it. It is obvious so if you don't like it, you can omit the same.

The bacon can be substituted with ham, mushrooms, artichokes might be nice too.

For more tips do head over to Ellie's space.


Sending this to Presto Pasta Nights (#209) hosted by Sweet Artichoke.


PS: I have to tell you that after all the drama, Ro gets back home and gives me a sheepish grin and tells me he grabbed a sandwich on the way cos he was sooo hungry. I had already downed a glass of wine and was feeling a bit light headed or something, I let it pass saying he can take it for lunch the next day..Thanks to the wine, otherwise I would have definitely been a bitch about it!

'Brunch' ed Up, eh?

Oh don't you just love the whole idea of a brunch? Well, I do and i love going out to brunch rather than staying at home and making one. Especially after a night out on Saturday, you wake up late on Sunday and head out to a restaurant, have a 3 hour long brunch and if you have friends joining you, even better. So today was brunch day and for a change i decided to do it at home. Boy was it so much more easier and fun to have brunch than to have breakfast at 10 and then get prepared for lunch by the time you are done cleaning up after breakky.

We started off with a rather rich and heavy Frittata, washed it down with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice followed by buttermilk blueberry pancakes and a cuppa freshly brewed coffee. Yes, you guessed right..we were so full after that to even clean up and now i have a messy kitchen staring back at me. I thought id take a breather, come and blog about it and then get back to cleaning up (which basically means loading the dish washer) ;)

Bacon and Spinach Frittata

Frittata is an Italian omelet mixed with veggies, meats, cheese or rather anything of your choice and served open..and not folded. It is initially cooked on a hob top and finished off under a grill.

Bacon- 3 rashers, cooked and crumbled

Baby Spinach- 1 to 2 cups (depending on your taste. Ro didn't let me put more than a cup)

Garlic pods- 3, chopped fine

Spring onions- 3, chopped fine (both bulb and greens)

Garlic sausages- 3, cooked and chopped (optional)

Eggs- 4

Heavy cream- 30ml

Mature cheddar cheese- less than a 1/4 cup

Pepper powder- as required

Salt- to taste

Baking powder- a pinch (optional)

Clean the spinach leaves, drain and transfer them to a bowl and close with a lid. Cook in the microwave on high for about 2 minutes. Drain off the water and keep aside.

In a large frying pan, cook the bacon and sausages (if using) and preserve the oil.

If there is way too much oil, discard some and in the remaining, sautee the garlic and spring onions till light and fragrant.

Add the spinach, crumbled bacon and sausages. Season with some pepper powder and sautee for a few minutes. Check for salt and only then add, since the bacon and sausages will have some salt content in them.

Beat the eggs, cheddar cheese, cream, salt pepper and baking pwd in a bowl till light and fluffy.

Add this to the frying pan and mix well, without disturbing the ends too much. Try and distribute the filling evenly.

Cook on low fire for about 2 minutes and then cover and cook for a minute or two again. Transfer to a pre-heated grill for another 5 mins max..just to brown the top.

Cut into wedges and serve.

Notes: The garlic sausages were about to expire and so i added that too. The bacon would be good on its own or rather better, because somehow there was a conflict of flavours.

Whole milk can be used instead of heavy cream. I wanted to make sure we don't eat healthy today :)

Add mushrooms, carrots, peas or any veggie of your choice and make it an egg-etariandelight.

If you do not have an oven, you can just carefully turn the egg upside down to brown the top. Be careful though...you shouldn't crack the beautiful round shape. Invert it on to a plate first and then insert that plate back into the frying pan to be double sure. Am i making sense?

Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes

This is my first time with buttermilk pancakes and i must say it does make a difference to the texture and a slight taste variation. Or am i imagining it, i don't know. I asked Ro and he said he cant remember eating pancakes made by me at all....but clarified that the Tesco one tastes a whole lot different (good different or bad different is a very time consuming argument, so i left it at that)....Thanks for that baby, i am so stupid i didn't know! DUH!

All purpose flour- 1 cup

Sugar- 4 tbsp ( optional)

Baking powder- 3/4 tsp

Baking Soda- 1/4 tsp

Salt- 1/4 tsp

Egg- 1

Buttermilk- 1 cup

Butter- 2 tbsp, melted and cooled slightly

Vanilla extract- 1/4 tsp

Fresh Blueberries- 100 gms

Mix all the dry ingredients (first 5) together and keep aside.

Whisk together the remaining, except the blueberries, and add to the dry ingredients. Stir until it is just blended and then add the blueberries. Give a final stir and keep aside for about 5 to 10 minutes.

Heat a non-stick skillet and pour in one ladle full of batter. After about 3 minutes, bubbles start appearing on top and at that time, flip and cook for another 2 minutes or till golden brown. Repeat till the entire batter is used up. I got about 10 medium size pancakes.

Drizzle some maple syrup, butter or even honey and serve with fresh blueberries on the side. Wanna die sooner? Add some whipped cream :0

Note: Buttermilk can be substituted with whole milk

I tried using an electric grill for the pancakes, but it was surprisingly taking too long and the bubbles were just not there...Hob top skillet is the best.

Use bananas, chocolate chips, strawberries in the place of blueberries, and I'm sure the result will be as 'fruitful' :)

Phew! that was awfully long, i think i'll get Ro to clean up ;)