Artisanal Macaroni and Cheese

There is a reason why Kraft Mac and Cheese is in so many pantries.  It's quick and easy comfort food that's perfect for lazy or busy days ... or so I thought.  Then I came across the artisanal mac and cheese recipe developed by Terrance Brennan, the chef at the Artisanal Fromagerie, Bistro in New York.  This recipe was featured on the cover of the May 2010 issue of Saveur, and the picture looked inviting. I wonder why it didn't catch attention when I flipped through the magazine for the first time. 

This recipe uses three different types of cheese and a generous panko-parmesan crust.  The cheese sauce is bubbly, and the crust become super crunchy after 30 minutes in the oven.  The combination of the cheesy pasta and the crunchy crust is irresistible!  This isn't a quick dinner, and there are more than three steps to follow, but it's worth spending one hour for this Kraft substitute.  My family and I were rewarded by the best mac and cheese we ever had.

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Chicken Marsala Pasta

Chicken Marsala is one of my go to dishes. I always serve bread with it to soak up all the sauce on the plate. I was running out of bread the other day but didn't want to waste the sauce either. My solution was to use it as a pasta sauce. I cut the chicken into bite size pieces. It's quicker to cook, and no knife is necessary while eating!

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Frozen Ravioli with Brown Butter Sauce

There was a bag of squash frozen ravioli in my freezer for a while, and they became a bit frosty. It was the time to use them before they become completely freezer burned. I was tired and didn't want to spent too much time making a sauce, but a store bought marinara sauce was too strong for the delicate squash flavor. Fortunately, I had some fresh herbs and a stick of butter at hand, so I simply browned a few tablespoons of butter and added chopped herbs. The nutty flavor of the browned butter nicely complemented the squash ravioli. This very simple sauce kicked up the frozen raviolis a notch, and made my husband say,”wow, we are having a gourmet dinner!”

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Guiltless Mac and Cheese

When my husband and I were still dating, my husband used to keep boxes of mac and cheese in his pantry.  We cooked them when we felt like being lazy, and I actually enjoyed it.  But then I had mac and cheese at a fancy restaurant and couldn't stop spooning in the rich creaminess even after I was completely stuffed.  I went home and searched for the recipe.  Lots of butter, tons of cheese... no wonder it's so good!  We loved eating mac and cheese, but we also want to lead a healthy life.... Then my husband gave me a task: cook mac and cheese without butter, a healthier mac and cheese challenge.

Often, mac and cheese recipes start with making bechamel sauce with butter, flour and milk, then add cheese to it.  Well, I can't use butter so no bechamel for me.  Instead, I thickened the milk with cornstarch.  Since the butter is one of the key ingredients for that rich flavor (everything is better with butter....am I right?), omitting it makes the dish much less tasteful.  But don't worry.  A little bit of Dijon mustard and a few pinches of spices do the trick.  Adding asparagus is another way to make it healthy.  Asparagus adds volume to the dish without a lot of calories.  I like fusilli for my mac and cheese because the spiral holds the cheese sauce better than elbow macaroni.  Finally, top with garlic flavored bread crumbs, and you have a plate of guiltless mac and cheese.

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Lemon Cream Pasta with Asparagus and Chicken

 
Asparagus is another shun ingredient I picked up at the grocery store.  Asparagus season begins around mid-April and lasts about two months.  So strictly speaking, it's a little far ahead.  But since Wegmans had beautiful asparagus, I reached for a bundle.

Though it is cream based, this pasta is very light and refreshing.  When you make lemon zest, try to grate only the outermost, yellow part of the lemon skin.  The white part of the lemon, the lemon pith, is very bitter, and it will give your dish an undesirable taste.  Any grater/zester should work fine, but I like Microplane Grater/Zester.  It works very well for this job.

The chicken can be substituted with different proteins such as shrimp, squid, salmon and prosciutto.  If you are vegetarian, omit the chicken and use vegetable stock in stead of chicken stock.  That works just fine.

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