Macaroni and Cheese! Who doesn’t love mac ‘n’ cheese. I know I’m a huge fan. For convenience, we typically do a “shells ‘n’ cheese” quick box when we want it as a side. However, it’s good to do a nice baked dish. This one certainly fits the bill.

The Program

1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 large egg
12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper

Topping:
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup panko bread crumbs

The Prep

There’s really nothing to the prep for this. The main thing to be aware of is that – for a side dish – it takes a lot of range and oven space. We, like most people I guess, have a 4 burner range top and one oven. So if you’re doing a bunch of other stuff, just be aware that you’re going to use 2 burners and one rack in the oven for this guy. Luckily, you can do the macaroni ahead of time if you need the burner. It also bakes for 30 minutes so you get your range back for that amount of time.

The Process

Bechamel is at the heart of the process for this. If you’re not familiar with making a roux and building a sauce, this is the best place to start. It really is not difficult. Cook the butter, flour and mustard for a couple of minutes. Get it as smooth as you can. I let mine go until I just started to smell a nice nutty aroma. At that point, slowly whisk in the the milk and keep stirring. You can not stir this too much. Add the onion, bay leaf and paprika. Simmer and stir this until it starts to thicken. At this point you temper in the egg, remove the bay leaf and stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Once the cheese is melted, add the macaroni mix it up and put it in your baking dish. I used a 9×9 glass dish and it worked well. Oh yeah, don’t forget to melt the butter and toss the bread crumbs in it to prep your topping – which goes on top of the remaining cheese that you spread across the top. Bake and enjoy!

The Payoff

This macaroni and cheese has great flavor. The mustard and paprika come through nicely in this recipe. This is the best macaroni and cheese I’ve ever made which earns it a pretty good rating…

This installment of AB and Me has me preparing Alton Brown’s rice pilaf. I love rice and will try just about any preparation I can find. Naturally, I couldn’t say no to AB and his rice.

The Program

1 tablespoon Unsalted butter
½ ea Onion, Medium – Finely Chopped
½ ea Red Bell Pepper, Finely Chopped
1 ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt, plus 2 pinches
2 cups Long Grain White Rice
1 pinch Saffron, Steeped in 1/4 cup hot water
2 ½ cups Chicken Broth
1 ea Orange Zest, 1 x 2 inch strip
2 ea Bay Leaf
½ cup Frozen Peas
¼ cup Golden Raisins
¼ cup Pistachios, Chopped

The Prep

By far the most interesting part for this recipe, at least for me, is the saffron. Maybe I’ve been missing out, but I’ve never cooked with saffron before. Maybe because, by weight, it is the most expensive spice on the planet. A gram of saffron can easily cost $10 – $15 or even more. For those that might need help with the quick math that’s around $300 an ounce. Other than procuring the saffron, the rest of the prep is pretty straight forward.

The Process

This dish offers up another twist in the process. After sweating the onion and pepper in the butter, you add the rice and get it almost toasted, just until it starts to smell nutty. It will take awhile, you’ll think you’re going to burn it, but just keep stirring. “Your patience will be rewarded,” as Alton Brown would say. Once you get that nutty smell, add everything but the peas and crank up the heat.

While the mixture comes up to a boil, take a clean tea towel and soak it in water. Once the mixture is boiling, kill the heat, lay your wet towel over the top of the pot and put the lid over the towel. Fold the towel ends up over the lid and slide it into the oven.* Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, then remove and let rest covered for 15 minutes.

*I don’t have lawyers like Alton, but here’s my disclaimer about putting your pot in the oven. Please be sure the manufacturer of your cookware has confirmed that it’s o.k. for both the pot and lid to go from stovetop to oven for temps up to at least 350. If you melt a plastic handle, shatter a glass lid or get poisoned from some non-stick coating that melts onto the rice that you eat, don’t come crying to me. I warned you.

The Payoff

I will admit, this is not exactly what I was expecting. That’s not to say it wasn’t good, but I’ve had many different takes on rice pilaf and this one was totally different than any of the other ones. I’m sure it was the orange zest. I may have gone a little overboard on it. I’m going to do this one again to see if I can get a little closer to Alton’s intent.