8 July 2009
It’s What’s For Dinner
Dinner at the Jejune household is inevitably a thrown-together affair. This is partially a relic of the days when we’d, more often than not, make it back to the apartment in the evenings after 8pm, and “patience” plus “low blood sugar” are not two things that go together in my world. It’s also because I enjoy the instant gratification of pulling something immediately from the pantry or fridge. I really like to cook, and do a lot of it on the weekends; even now, though, when I actually have the time to cook many days during the week, I choose not to.
Hence, weekday evenings remain carb-fests: spaghetti! Fried egg on toast! Oatmeal with a chopped apple! Pancakes! Maybe a thrown-together fruit salad based on whatever’s ripening in the produce drawer! (Unless it is, as now, Quebec strawberry season, in which case it is a sacrilege to do anything other than eat the berries straight, the same day as purchase. Quebec strawberries: juicy, tangy, ephemeral, amazing.) Dinner, I guess, looks a lot like breakfast, and that’s how I like it.
Occasionally, blue boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese — here, more properly known as Kraft Dinner — are brought into rotation. I have tried a great, great many Mac ‘n’ Cheese recipes, and I think my favorite is still this one, even though it’s too high-fat expensive awesome to make regularly. That said, I still have a fierce, decades-old loyalty to the orange powder Kraft version, wherein salt is the dominant flavor.* It has gotten to the point where I now go out of my way to pick up family-size boxes at the big grocery store, so Pete doesn’t cook up a normal-sized box only to reluctantly fork half of its cooked contents over to me as I stare at it with the wide eyes of a Dickensian orphan.
* My super-secret preparation method involves making the “Classic” sauce (!!) instead of the “Sensible Solution” version prominently featured on the side of the box, because half a stick or so of butter has a lot more flavor than an equivalent quantity of skim milk.
I really, really, really like mustard in my mac n’ cheese. I also like to add blended cottage cheese to the mix. It brings the tang while lowering the fat.
During college my brother survived on what seemed like a diet entirely consisting of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. He swore by Tabasco sauce.
Of all the mac n’ cheese recipes in the world that I would have guessed you’d link to, Patti LaBelle’s is last on the list.
My current favorite Mac ‘n cheese recipe is this one: http://cooksillustrated.com/recipes/detail.asp?docid=8242
Sriracha! Adding it to mac ‘n’ cheese might very well be the culinary discovery of the summer at our house.
Ha ha… love it, Kraft Dinner and the wide eyes of a Dickensian orphan. :)
We don’t eat this much anymore since we’re trying to be good but when we do we often add prodigious amounts of black pepper and some mustard powder. In mine I also add garlic powder – or to the whole pot if I don’t want to share.
:)
Katie,
Since you’re here in the north, you should try President’s Choice white cheddar mac & cheese. Available at Loblaw, No Frills, Zehrs, and related chains. Widely preferred to KD. Look for the black box.
Also: In separate bowl, take can of tuna (chunk light – No Name is good). Add low fat miracle whip & mix. Mix tuna mixture with Mac & Cheese — instant tuna casserole, with protein. Adds ~ $1 to the cost of the meal.
Ketchup & Black Pepper (fresh cracked if you can) is also popular chez nous.
PS: Dried noodle nostalgia. Does anyone have an archived version or fresh link to the old Friends, Ramen, Countrymen site?