I've made a lot of different macs & cheeses over the years. This one was particularly nice. Probably not my all-time favourite, but it was quite good. I liked it a lot. And so did the Kidlet.

Truffled Mac & Cheese

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 450g maccaroni or similar short pasta
• 2 tsp. truffle oil¹
• 1/4 c. butter
• 1/4 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1/2 tsp. Dijon or Roman mustard
• 2 1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 180g gruyère, grated
• 180g Cheddar, grated
• 2 Tbsp. minced chives²
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
2. Add the pasta and cook until molto al dente (~2 minutes less than you would normally cook it).
3. Drain and toss with the truffle oil. Set aside.
4. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F) and grease a 23x33cm (9x13") baking dish.
5. Return the empty pot to medium heat and melt the butter.
6. Add the flour and cook, stirring, until a light roux forms (~3 minutes).
7. Stir in the paprika and mustard.
8. Add the milk and cream and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture becomes smooth and thickens slightly (~5 minutes).
9. Stir in ~2/3 of each of the cheeses³ and chives and cook until cheese melted and mixture becomes smooth.
10. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
11. Return the oiled pasta to the pot and stir to combine.
12. Pour the pasta mixture into the prepared baking dish.
13. Sprinkle the remaining cheeses on top.
14. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 20-25 minutes.
15. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

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¹ The recipe didn't specify whether to use black or white truffle oil. I had a small bottle of black truffle oil already open though, so I just went with that. It was good, but I'm not sure how much the truffle actually came through in the end. I do think it helped to augment the flavour of the gruyère though. So it wasn't wasted. Just a bit more subtle than I was expecting. ^Back
2 I didn't have any chives, so I stirred a generous tablespoon of dried leeks into my sauce instead. ^Back
3 Whoops! I forgot to hold back any cheese for the topping! I just put it all into the sauce. It was still delicious! No complaints. But it would probably look a little more special with some extra cheese on top. I'll try to remember to do that next time. ^Back

This is a fantastic mac & cheese recipe. I mean, it pretty much follows the standard formula of: make roux, add milk, add cheese, add pasta, bake. So there's not really anything revoluationary going on here, but the formula is a classic for a reason!

This makes a lovely cheese sauce. And, of course, the toasted breadcrumb topping makes it even better. And, just in case that wasn't enough, there's also a bit of bacon stirred into the mix. Perfection!

The only issue I had was that the proportions seemed way off. The recipe only calls for 225g of pasta and that didn't seem like nearly enough for the amount of sauce the instructions produced. So we ended up cooking a bunch more pasta and stirring it in 'til it looked about right. But then, of course, it seemed a bit under-bacon'd, so we ended up mixing in a little more bacon as well. Still... having dealt with that quibble, the results were excellent!

Bacon Mac & Cheese

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, divided
• 4 slices baguette (or similar) torn into crumbs
• 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/4 tsp. ground cayenne
• 3 c. milk, warmed
• 1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce (optional)
• 375g Cheddar cheese, grated, divided
• 375g macaroni (or similar short pasta)
• 8 slices bacon, cooked and chopped

Directions

1. Grease a 1.5L baking dish.
2. Melt 1 Tbsp. of the butter over medium heat.
3. Add the breadcrumbs and toast, stirring often, until browned (4-5 minutes). Transfer to a plate and set aside.
4. Melt the remaining 3 Tbsp. of butter over medium heat.
5. Add the flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne and cook, stirring constantly, until flour is cooked (~2 minutes).
6. Slowly whisk in the warm milk and Worcestershire sauce (if using) and keep stirring until lumps dissolve.
7. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens (10-15 minutes).
8. Add 250g of the cheese and stir until melted and fully combined. Remove from heat and set aside.
9. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
10. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions.
11. Drain the pasta, return to pot, and pour the sauce over.
12. Add the bacon pieces and stir to combine.
13. Dump the mixture into the prepared baking dish and top with the remaining cheese.
14. Sprinkle the toasted breadcrumbs on top and bake at 190°C (375°F) until bubbling and heated through (~30 minutes).

I was not previously familiar with the concept of roulades. I knew what a soufflé was, but not a roulade. As far as I can tell, it seems to be what happens when you bake a soufflé in a jelly roll pan and then top it with delicious fillings and roll it up. Like a savoury, fluffy, egg-y jelly roll. This is the basic roulade base. Once you have it baked, you can fill it with whatever strikes your fancy.

Basic Roulade

Slightly adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. unsalted butter
• 5 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. white peppercorns, ground
• 1/8 tsp. ground cayenne
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 1/2 c. grated Swiss, Cheddar, or Gruyère (optional)
• 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Grease a 25x38cm (10x15") jelly roll pan and then line the bottom and sides with parchment paper and grease the parchment paper as well. (If you have non-stick baking spray, it comes in handy here.)
3. Melt the butter over low heat.
4. Add the flour and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes.
5. Gradually whisk in the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
6. Cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes.
7. Stir in salt, white pepper, and cayenne and remove from heat.
8. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks to break them up.
9. Whisk in ~1/2 c. of the white sauce mixture to temper the yolks.
10. Gradually whisk in the remaining sauce until blended.
11. Stir in the cheese (if using).
12. Place the egg whites in a large bowl and add the cream of tartar.
13. Beat on low until soft peaks form.
14. Increase speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form.
15. Stir ~1/4 of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture to loosen it.
16. Pour the loosened yolk mixture into the bowl with the remaining egg whites and carefully fold them together until blended.
17. Carefully pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly. (Keep the bowl very low so as not to deflate the eggs or use a spoon and spoon the mixture into the pan.)
18. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 15-18 minutes. The roulade should be puffed and golden when done.
19. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 2 minutes.
20. Grease a 38cm (15") long sheet of parchment paper and place it greased-side-down over the roulade.
21. Invert the roulade onto a cooling rack and lift off the jelly roll pand and carefully peel off the paper.
22. Roulade may be filled while still warm or once cooled to room temperature.
23. If not using immediately, roll it up in parchment paper, wrap it in tin foil, and refrigerate. It will keep in the fridge for up to two days.
24. Roulades that are intended to be served warm may be reheated in the oven once filled.

I had been hoping to try out a chile-garlic shrimp recipe for dinner tonight, but I couldn't find the issue of Cook's Country with the recipe! I opted for a shrimp Creole instead. But we were a bit shy on shrimp, so I tossed in some scallops as well. I think it worked nicely!

Seafood Creole

Adapted from Cook's Country April/May 2019

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 bell pepper¹, finely chopped
• 6 Tbsp. finely chopped celery
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme²
• 1/2 Tbsp. Creole seasoning
• 6 Tbsp. dry white wine
• 1 1/2 c. canned crushed tomatoes
• 1 c. chicken broth
• 2 1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 450g seafood of choice
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2 scallions, sliced thin
• 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Directions

1. Melt butter over medium heat.
2. Add flour and cook until roux turns the colour of peanut butter (3-5 minutes).
3. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, thyme, and Creole seasoning and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add wine and cook until nearly evaporated (~3 minutes).
5. Add tomatoes, broth, and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. Season seafood with salt and pepper and add to sauce.
8. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through (~5 minutes but will vary depending on type and size of seafood).
9. Remove from heat and stir in scallions and lemon juice.
10. Serve over rice.

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¹ Green bell pepper is the classic choice here. I didn't have green so I used orange. ^Back
2 If you have fresh thyme, use it! I didn't so I used dried. For fresh, you'll want ~1/2 Tbsp. ^Back

This is basically a cottage pie, but with white sauce instead of gravy and "tater tots" in place of the mashed potato. It works quite well and is reasonably easy to throw together. Being able to skip making up a batch of mashed potatoes and still have a tasty potato layer on top is a nice convenience. I don't foresee myself making this one super frequently, but I'm glad I tried it and it's a nice option to have if I ever find myself craving cottage pie.

Tater Tot Hotdish

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country October/November 2017

Ingredients

• 900g lean ground beef¹
• 450g cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 Tbsp. black pepper, ground
• 3 Tbsp. flour²
• 1 1/2 c. whole milk
• 1 1/2 c. chicken broth
• 1 1/2 c. grated Parmesan
• 1 c. frozen peas
• 1 c. frozen corn
• 1 (800g) bag frozen tater tots (Tasti Taters

Directions

1. Combine beef, mushrooms, onion, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper and cook over medium-high heat until most of the liquid has evaporated (~25 minutes).
2. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position³ and preheat oven to 230°C (450°F).
3. Stir flour into beef mixture and cook for 1 minute.
4. Add milk and broth and bring to a simmer.
5. Cook until thickened (3-5 minutes).
6. Stir in Parmesan.
7. Pour mixture into 23x33cm (9x13") baking dish.
8. Sprinkle frozen peas and corn over top.
9. Arrange tater tots in a single layer on top. Do not press into mixture. You may have a couple extra tater tots left over.
10. Bake at 230°C (450°F) for 35 minutes.
11. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving.
12. Serve with ketchup/tomato sauce.

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¹ The original recipe called for 680g 85% lean ground beef. Our beef comes frozen in 450g packages so, rather than try to split a package and then try to figure out what to do with the extra half package, we just put in two full packages and rolled with it. I also think our beef is more than 85% lean, so I added a Tbsp. of unsalted butter to compensate. ^Back
2 The original specifically calls for all-purpose flour. That said, I think any (wheat) flour would be fine for this application. ^Back
3 The rack must be in the upper portion of the oven as the heat reflecting off the top of the oven is needed to crisp the tater tots. ^Back

Edmonds "white sauce" recipe is extremely versatile. Aside from the basic roux-based dairy sauce it can be turned into half a dozen other variants using the same base. The cheese sauce simply involves adding a bit of grated Cheddar to the finished sauce.

Cheese Sauce

From Edmonds Cookery Book

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. salted butter
• 2 Tbsp. flour (any type)
• 1 c. milk, warmed
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 c. grated Cheddar

Directions

1. Melt the butter over medium heat.
2. Stir in the flour and cook until frothy.
3. Remove from heat and gradually stir in the milk.
4. Return to heat and cook until sauce boils and thickens.
5. Cook for another 2 minutes.
6. Stir in cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste.