Cooking Saveur

Time to cook. Why that egg is so huge inside that poor chicken, only a poultry OBGYN knows. First recipe, pg. 351 on mac and cheese. I've never followed an actual recipe because who the hell has all those ingredients on hand? I live in a DC apartment, not Martha Stewart's Connecticut estate where I can just go out and grab twigs of thyme and a fresh bay leaf. My approach to cooking ot to basically try to use up shit in the fridge before it molds or decays. So cheese was the ingredient guiding me to page 351. And may I just say THANK YOU for extolling the melty virtues of Velveeta "cheese" Saveur! Fuck those snooty chefs who mock its vibrant orange history. It works whenever you want to get that gooey, non-oil-pool, creamy goodness just melting cheddar or any other real cheese can not yield.

I basically just shredded up what I think was a Gruyere/cheddar block from Trader Joe's, a Colby wedge from the farmer's market, leftover Parmesan, and yes, the little ounce of blue cheese and, of course, the Velveeta. Added that mixture to the basic variation of the flour/butter/milk mixture that seems very much like a bechamel sauce? I have to look that up; could be dreaming. I added garlic because, GARLIC. Also jazzed it up with ground pepper flakes instead of cayenne, used dry thyme and two bay leaves since they were looking/smelling kinda wimpy. I also blended panko flakes with the buttered wheat bread crumbs (who the hell have white bread at home? Kindergarten teachers and the CEO of ButterKrust? Are they still in business? Loved that factory sign in San Antonio - endless slices just spilling out of that loaf - now it's just orange juice).

This recipe makes way too much for a 8x8 thus I had to go with two baking casserole pans. Yes, I have more than one, but not going to say how many more. So, after the baking, results were good. Nice, crunch crumb top that you could hear crunching when you dished out portions. creamy but not stringy cheese with nice cling to the spirali pasta. Should have used more garlic, but when haven't I thought that.