Cooking with Kids: Mac and Cheese Mix-Ins
Mac, cheese, and morels. Photograph by Matthew Amster-Burton
In his book Dinner with Dad
In my house, we've had exactly the opposite experience. Periodically, spurred on by something like this Salon article, I will try a new recipe for homemade macaroni. I've made custardy, cheesy, stovetop, and oven versions. The result is always the same: Iris, my three-year-old, is fine with any macaroni. Her parents—whose foodie credentials, I assure you, are unassailable—prefer the stuff from the box. We're not into canned ravioli or frozen burger patties. I make my own panko-breaded chicken strips. But boxed macaroni is just the thing.
If you're stuck with a blue or purple box due to child or parent prejudice, do what we do: Doctor it. Actually, it turns out you, Serious Eaters, are way ahead of me. Sloppy joes? Leftover lobster? Chipotles? I love it!
Our most common Sunday lunch after a trip to the farmers' market is mac and broc. Cut a head of broccoli into florets and peeled slices of stem. Toss it right in with the boiling macaroni. If you're using elbows, throw the broccoli in at the beginning. With shells, wait about four minutes. Drain and sauce them together.
Cauliflower works well, too. Sautéed corn off the cob nestles nicely into the pasta shells. Fresh or frozen peas would be lovely.
Mac and cheese is also good with salsa. I take a couple tablespoons of homemade or commercial salsa and strain it in a sieve to thicken it while I make the macaroni, then stir it in at the end. I especially like a spicy tomatillo salsa for this purpose.
And in the photo above you can see what I made for lunch at the height of morel season.
Wouldn't it be awesome if Annie's included a packet of dried morels to throw in with the noodles? They could sell it for ten bucks. I'd buy it.
About the author: Matthew Amster-Burton lives in Seattle. His work appears frequently in the Seattle Times and Seattle magazine. He also maintains the blog Roots and Grubs. His favorite food is pad Thai.
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6 Comments:
When my kids were young, I prepared many boxes of Kraft, usually on Sunday after church. Now, 35 plus years later, I enjoy my overloaded whatever-kind-of-cheese-on hand homemade!
JEP at 4:16PM on 08/13/07
box mac & cheese is basically just a whole stick of butter and a little milk, plus the violently orange cheese powder. You can't really go wrong adding yummy stuff with what's essentially a roux, albeit on cheese-steroids.
seyo at 4:23PM on 08/13/07
While I'm usually a from scratch sort of a cook (I made a vat of chicken stock the other day because I needed half a cup for a recipe), I love mac and cheese from a box--the bright orange kind too. I like homemade mac and cheese as well, but that's a different animal entirely. For comfort, Kraft hits the spot. No add ins necessary.
Tea_Austen at 11:15AM on 08/14/07
Growing up my mom added breakfast sausage, which I didn't mind so much.....or tuna (especially on Fridays during Lent). I HATED canned tuna when I was a kid, so I didn't eat it.
Yes, the kind in the blue box is a guilty pleasure, but my homemade recipe (adapted from The Best Recipe) still puts me in heaven every time....
lo82070 at 12:40PM on 08/14/07
I love to add thawed frozen peas and cooked, crumbled sweet Italian sausage to blue box mac and cheese.
Leftover blue box mac and cheese reheated and served with scrambled eggs and hot sauce or ketchup is actually a pretty good hangover breakfast. Don't forget the coffee!
I think my favorite thing to do to doctor boxed mac and cheese is to add a fixed batch of it to browned hamburger, scallions and a can of diced tomatoes (the kind with jalapenos added to them) and let all of it heat through until it's bubbly. Then I top my bowlful of it with a spoonful of sliced, pickled jalapenos. Quick chilli mac!
Amandarama at 2:52PM on 08/14/07
That picture kinda grosses me out but I LOVE the concept... I think you can throw everything but the kitchen sink in when it comes to Mac-N-Cheese. Red beans and salsa (someone mentioned salsa) are great...perhaps some fresh, shredded cheddar... Ground beef has probably been mentioned (sorry, I was busy today and didn't get a chance to read the whole thread). Pickled peppers? -I LOVE spicy stuff though and kids are usually not gonna go for that. :))
cheffy at 8:14PM on 08/14/07