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.