Smoked gouda mac and cheese
Grate your own cheese for this one. The bagged stuff will let you down.
At a Glance
Story
Pre-shredded cheese is tossed in potato starch or cellulose so the shreds do not weld together in the bag. That coating does exactly the same thing in your sauce, which is why bagged cheese melts grainy and refuses to go glossy. Ten minutes with a box grater is the difference between a sauce and a disappointment.
Ingredients
- 8 oz cavatappi or another short twisted pasta
- 6 oz baby spinach
- 1 yellow onionhalved and thinly sliced
- 2 oz smoked goudagrated
- 2 oz fontinagrated
- 2 oz sharp cheddargrated
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ⅝ cup béchamelor milk thickened with a butter-and-flour roux
- 1 bunch thymeleaves picked
- ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
- ½ oz salted butter
- ¼ tsp truffle zest or a few drops of truffle oiloptional, and easy to overdo
- olive oilsalt, pepper
Method
The crumb is not a garnish. It is the only crunchy thing in a bowl of soft things, so make more of it than you think you need.
- Large pot of salted water on to boil. Grate all three cheeses onto one plate.
- Butter in a medium pan over medium-high. Panko in, seasoned, stirring constantly, 3 to 4 minutes, until evenly browned. Off the heat, stir in the truffle if you are using it. Into a bowl. Wipe the pan.
- Same pan, a drizzle of oil, the onion, 5 to 6 minutes, until soft and lightly coloured. Spinach and seasoning, 1 to 2 minutes, until wilted. Off the heat.
- Pasta into the water, 7 to 9 minutes, to al dente. Save half a cup of the cooking water, then drain. Keep the pot.
- In the pot over medium, the béchamel, cream, thyme and half the reserved water. Whisk 1 to 2 minutes until smooth and hot. Now the cheese, a handful at a time, whisking constantly. Let each go before the next.
- Pasta and the onion and spinach back in. 1 to 2 minutes, stirring, adding the rest of the pasta water if it tightens. Taste and season.
- Into bowls, then the crumb, generously.
Keep the heat moderate once the cheese is in. Too hot and the fat splits out of the sauce and sits on top in little gold pools.
More to cook
Chicken and gnocchi with a pecan gremolata
The gnocchi cook in the broth, and the pesto turns what is left into a sauce.
Chipotle-glazed chicken bites over poblano rice
Cornstarch, not flour, which is the only reason the crust survives the glaze.
Pork bánh mì rice bowls
All the bánh mì furniture, none of the bread, and a pickle that takes ten minutes.
Balsamic chicken and roast roots in spicy honey butter
The butter goes on after roasting, never before, and it matters more than it sounds.
Falafel and chicken in one pita
Feta goes into the falafel mix, not on top, and it changes the whole thing.
Gochujang-glazed meatloaf with delicata squash
Fifteen minutes of prep, and the squash needs no peeling whatsoever.
One-pot shrimp udon with lime
Nothing gets drained, so the starch off the noodles thickens the sauce for you.
Shawarma turkey meatballs over couscous
Foil over the pan for the first six minutes, which is the whole trick.
Shrimp and orange-chili noodles
Fifteen minutes. The noodles are heated in the bowl they get dressed in.
Chicken and chickpea pitas
Fifteen minutes, one pan, and a tahini sauce loosened with honey.
Chickpea and yellow curry shakshuka
One pan, one jar of curry paste, and eggs dropped in at the end.
Crispy chicken cutlets in a tomato cream
The sauce is made in the frying pan after the oil comes out, not before.
Falafel and farro, everything marinated
The falafel mix needs ten minutes alone before you touch it. Rush that and it crumbles.
Harissa-honey chicken and pearl couscous
The dates go into warm water first, which is the difference between chewy and molten.
Kimchi butter shrimp
Butter and kimchi make a pan sauce in about ninety seconds. Have the rice ready.