' With the weather being so cold here in the Midwest for the past couple of weeks, I received requests for meals that are warm and stay with you for a while. Homemade mac & cheese is one of these, but as usual, I wanted something with a twist. Rachael Ray’s Cubano Mac & Cheese fit the bill. I made some changes to it to suit the ingredients I had on hand. The original recipe calls for deli sliced ham, which I didn’t use. Not because I don’t like ham, but because I had about a pound of Latin pork shoulder (recipe in The Joy of Cooking). It turned out pretty good, though too spicy for us. The recipe calls for 1/4 cup of hot sauce. That’s just too much for my stomach to handle, and Matt said he liked it, but it was too spicy for him to enjoy a lot of it at once. That said, I will be making it again with less hot sauce.
Latin Mac & Cheese
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
* 1 pound whole wheat elbow pasta
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 3 tablespoons butter
* 3 tablespoons flour
* 1 cup chicken stock
* 2 cups milk
* 1/4 cup hot sauce
* 1/4 cup yellow mustard
* 3 cups Swiss or Gruyere cheese, shredded, plus additional for topping
* 1/2 cup pickles, chopped
* 1 lb cooked Latin-style pork shoulder, chopped (around 1/4″ sized pieces)
* A handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
Place a large pot of water over high heat and bring it up to a boil to cook the pasta. Once at a boil, add some salt and the pasta and cook it until al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, heat a large pot over medium heat and add the butter. When the butter melts, add the flour, stir until it’s all mixed together and smooth, and cook about a minute. Whisk in stock, milk, hot sauce and yellow mustard, and bring up to a bubble. Stir in the cheese in a figure-eight motion, reserving enough to sprinkle on the top of the casserole, until it’s all melted. Fold in the pickles and ham, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
When the pasta is done, drain it well and combine with sauce.
Serve with a nice salad.
