Michelle's Mac and Cheese

michelle dawson's mac and cheese

2 cups uncooked macaroni
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. ground mustard
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 c. milk
2 c. shredded cheddar (I use a mixture of cheeses here, usually fontal and provolone)

Melt the butter in a big sauce pan. Stir in the flour and spices and Worcestershire. Cook on very low heat until it is smooth and bubbly.Remove from heat. Stir in milk and heat to boiling, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and add cheese, stirring until melted. Meanwhile, cook macaroni noodles until al dente, salt the water well. Heat oven to 350 F, Mix noodles and cheese, and pour into a casserole dish. Cook uncovered 20-25 minutes.

Taste the cheese sauce and pasta before you mix it to make sure it has enough seasoning. Sometimes it can be really bland, and you need to play with the seasonings until it is right. Make sure the pasta itself is well-salted. Also you can use store bought bechamella and doctor it up.

---When I made this for thanksgiving at Sutri I didn't have mustard or Worcestershire or fontal. So I added some nutmeg to the flour/butter mix and used asiago cheese. Then when I mixed it all it was pretty thick and I like a creamier mac e cheese so I pour a little milk on top and mixed.

Pasta with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Today I need a quick yet tasty new pasta sauce. We eat pasta every day at lunch so I must get creative in finding new things. I happened to find this recipe online and then adapted it a bit. Serves 4 or you can half it to serve 2, which I did and it works well.

• 200g of mushrooms sliced- can be fresh, dried or frozen. If dried you will need to rehydrate them adn squeeze out the water. If frozen just drain off a bit of the extra liquid when cooking. 
• 2-3Tb finely chopped onion
• Panna da Cucina or Whipping cream in America( you might need less since it is more liquid)
• 1/2 glass of white white
• A small bunch of parsley chopped
• one small scoop butter
• salt, pepper
• 400 g pasta of choice

Saute' the mushrooms and onion in a skillet with the butter until onions are soft. Next add in the white wine and cook until the wine mostly evaporates. Take most of the mushrooms, leave a few of the slices whole in the skillet, and place them in a blender/food processor. Add in enough panna to make a creamy sauce. Blend until smooth, it will have little mushroom chunks. Pour the mushroom/cream blend back in the skillet. Salt and pepper to taste. If the sauce seems too thick add in a bit of the pasta water.

When cooking pasta remember it needs enough water to move around and salt the water with enough sea salt or sale grosso so the pasta has a slight salty taste to it. Cook until al dente. Then pour on the sauce, a little parsley and mix. Serve hot.

Fig Newtons

It's that time of year again in Italy- fig season. There is an ample supply of figs at our Bible school so I took advantage of them to make some jam and these tasty treats. I found this recipe online not sure where so I can't attribute it to anyone. oops!

Serves 30.  Makes about 65 pieces. Keeps really well.

 FOR DOUGH:
    •    3 cups all-purpose flour
    •    1/2 cup sugar
    •    1/2 tsp. salt
    •    3/4 tsp. baking powder
    •    3/8 tsp. baking soda
    •    1/2 tsp. cinnamon
    •    12 tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature, cut into pieces
    •    4 eggs, divided

  FOR FILLING:
    •    2 cups figs, chopped (can use dried)
    •    1 cup orange juice
    •    1 cup apple juice
    •    1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
    •    4 tbsp. sugar
    •    1 tsp. orange peel, or zest of 1 orange

THE DOUGH:
Combine the dry ingredients in a lg. bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter pieces until the dough is sandy loooking. Whisk 3 eggs together and add to the dough. Mix to combine. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.

THE  FILLING
 Combine all the filling ingredients in a saucepan or skillet and cook over medium heat until all the liquid is absorbed by the figs and the mixture is thick. Stir during cooking. Let the filling cool slightly, then puree in a food processor until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to bake.

Note* : for an easier version, sub the filling with 2 cups of fig preserves.

When ready to bake, heat the oven to 375F. Make an egg wash by whisking the remaining egg with 2 tsp. of water. Divide the dough into 3 equal parts. On a lightly floured surface roll out each portion of dough into a rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. Work with 1 portion of dough at a time. Cut the dough lengthwise into strips, at least 2 1/2 inches wide. Paint around the edges of each strip with egg wash. Spoon the fig filling down the center of the strip and then fold the dough over to enclose the filling. Place the tubes, seam side down, on the greased (or lined with parchment paper) cookie sheet. Press down lightly to flatten. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.  Brush the newtons with the egg wash and bake until light golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool, then cut with a sharp knife into 1-inch pieces. Store in an air tight container.

The Best Dairy Free Chocolate Cake and Icing

So I've never really worked on alternative cooking if you will but since moving to Monte Porzio I've learned several of our friends are severely lactose intolerant. So for church events, parties,etc. there is usually little dolci or sweets to enjoy. I set out to find some yummy yet doable recipes for them. Below is the chocolate cake I recently made. I think this will be my go to chocolate cake even for non lactose intolerant people. It is super easy, quick and moist. The icing is the same. Enjoy!!

Cake:
This recipe is for 12 cupcakes, a 9x9 cake, and an 8x8 cake. Double ingredients for 24 cupcakes, double layer round cake, or 9x13" cake or I made a 12" round cake.
Heat oven to 350. Grease pan(s) with an allergy safe food if you are making this for someone with food allergies. We have luck with most Pam sprays and Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine Sticks.

• 1.5 c flour
• 1 c sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 c cold water

Combine ingredients and pour into greased pan or muffin tin. Bake in oven until done, when cake springs back to the touch or a toothpick comes out clean. Time varies on the pan you use, 15 to 30 minutes possibly. For the 12" round pan it took about 30 mins.

Icing:

Makes about 2 cups

    •    2 cups powdered sugar
    •    ¼ cup (½ stick) dairy-free soy margarine, softened or margarine (read label bc some have milk)
    •    ¼ cup plain unsweetened almond milk or soymilk
    •    ¾ cup unsweetened pure cocoa powder
    •    ½ t. vanilla
 In a medium-large mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer, cream the powdered sugar with the soy margarine until mixture is thick but well combined.  Mine wasn't so smooth at first because margarine does not soften like butter. I just beat it longer to break down the margarine. Add the almond milk, cocoa powder and vanilla, and continue to mix until smooth. Spread on the cake.

Our Favorite Simple Granola

When Danny and I started dating I liked to make food gifts. I like to give and serve and well he likes to eat so those worked out well as love languages. Usually I made mexican but once I made granola since he'd mentioned it and it was quite the hit. So here's the recipe I make today. Simple, quick and yummy every morning with yogurt and coffee.  (note the origional of this recipe from allrecipes.com calls for more things but I like simple and economic living overseas). This recipe makes quite a large quantity but then we are set for about 1 1/2 months. It keeps great in airtight containers.



  Granola:

• 8 cups rolled oats
• 3 cups of any flake cereal (cornflakes, special k-my preference, bran flakes)
• 1 cup finely chopped almonds
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)
• 1 cup finely chopped walnuts (can also use hazelnuts)
• 1 cup overflowing of unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• once cooled you can add dried fruit or chocolate chips if desired. 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment or aluminum foil.
2. Combine the oats, cereal, almonds, pecans, and walnuts in a large bowl. Stir together the salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then pour over the dry ingredients, and stir to coat. Spread the mixture out evenly on the baking sheets.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until crispy and toasted, about 20 minutes. Stir once halfway through. Cool, then stir in the raisins or cranberries before storing in an airtight container.

Frittata di Zucchine

Melt 25g. of butter with 2 TB of olive oil in a non stick skillet. THinly slice 300g of zucchine and add it to the butter/oil mix. Cook about 10 mins. Stirring occasionally. In a seperate bowl lightly beat 6 eggs with a dash of salt. Drain the zucchine and add to the eggs. Melt another 25g butter in the same skillet and pour the egg mix on top. Cook on both sides til lightly golden. I put a lid on top to keep the heat in. Just be sure to check it every so often. It may still be runn in the middle when you need to flip it. The end product should be a very puffy. As it cool it will deflate a bit. You can also add some shredded parmesan or pancetta cooked,etc. to this. This dish is served good cold or hot. Enjoy!