Macaroni and Cheese for Mom and Dad

Submitted by Sarah_Jayne

"I came up with this recipe for the Ready Steady Cook #11 contest. Macaroni and Cheese is near the top of most people's list of comfort food from when they were a child. This dish gives Mac & Cheese a chance to grow up and provide a lush meal. Perhaps even a romantic meal. The idea of putting in the sun dried tomatoes came from Amish Macaroni and Cheese that usually includes slices of tomatoes. I originally thought that this made enough for two big servings but a lot of people have commented that it makes more like four servings. Perhaps I wrote down the wrong amount of pasta that I used but it appears to be working with the larger serving amounts. I have also made this with low fat versions of the cheeses and it has worked well that way too and with fewer calories."

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 2 cups elbow macaroni, uncooked
• 1⁄2 cup shallot, chopped
• 1⁄2 cup sun-dried tomato packed in oil, chopped
• 1 cup button mushroom, sliced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1⁄4 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1 cup 2% low-fat milk
• 3⁄4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (I use reduced fat variety)
• 3⁄4 cup gouda cheese, shredded
• 1⁄4 cup dry white wine

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook macaroni according to package directions, drain and set aside.
3. Melt butter in saucepan.
4. Add shallots, sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms and cook them for a minute or two until they are just tender.
5. Stir in flour and mustard powder.
6. Slowly add milk.
7. Bring to a low boil and stir often until the sauce has thickened a bit.
8. Stir in the cheese and the white wine. Stir constantly until the cheese has completely melted.
9. Add the cooked macaroni to the pan with the sauce and stir until the all of the pasta is coated by the sauce.
10. Transfer to an oven proof dish and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes.
11. Serve.

Reviews

[twissis]

This is a quick-fix & excellent meatless dish that works very well if paired w/a crisp salad & maybe a fruit-inspired dessert. You met your goal of grown-up comfort food IMO, but it fell just short of perfection & being fully-grown w/o the use of any seasoning or herbs. DH added mostly pepper & I used lemon-pepper seasoning salt. Even feeding 2 hearty appetites, this comes closer to serving 4 & that would also improve the nutritional data. I esp appreciate versatility & can see adding a Mediterranean flair to it w/a bit of prosciutto, black olives & garlic. Yum! We really liked this dish a lot & felt it was a creative & appealing use of the contest ingredients. Good luck in the contest!

 

[ncmysteryshopper]

I made this as a side dish and it was easy to make and was a great side dish. The flavors did not dominate our main course at all. Our 6 year old loved it (although he picked out all the sun dried tomatoes) and said it was awesome! I reheated the leftovers the next night and then noticed that the flavors shined. I don't think we would eat this as a main dish, but we certainly enjoyed it as a side. Good Luck Chef!

 

[ILuvRecipes]

4 stars. This macaroni and cheese has excellent flavor. I really like the sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms in it, and the mixture of gouda and cheddar gave it a great cheesy taste. I used whole wheat macaroni, about 1 1/2 tbsp margarine instead of butter, skim milk, and veggie broth for the wine. Good luck. Reviewed for RSC#11.

 

[LUv 2 BaKE]

4 stars. The sundried tomatoes are really key to this recipe. The creamy, smooth flavour of the gouda is also a major quality. I used skim milk and low fat cheese. I did find that this recipe serves more like 4-6 as a main dish rather than 2. Reviewed for RSC #11.

 

[Rita1652]

2 cups is 1/2 pound of elbows. I did cook a whole pound and after adding 1/2 the pasta to the sauce tasted and found it very rich so I added the full pound. I used the wine to deglaze the pan after sauteing the shallots, sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms. This served 8 making this lower in fat and calories. Before added the mixture to the pan I did spray it with olive oil for easy clean up. This was creamy and rich even when adding the extra elbows. It would have been good kicked up with some Cayenne. Great job!