I was watching the Best Thing I Ever Made on Food Network this morning and saw Sunny Anderson make her mac and cheese. It looked so good, and I knew I had all the ingredients to make it besides the pepper jack cheese. Even without the pepper jack cheese it was awesome. The cayenne pepper gave it just the right amount of heat. The thing I liked most about this recipe, was the fact that it didn't require making a roux. A roux is a mixture of equal parts butter and flour. Then you would whisk in the milk, but this recipe just required mixing a bunch of ingredients together into a bowl. The mac and cheese was rich and creamy, and it's easy to half the recipe for just one person.
Speaking of Food Network... I don't mind all those competition shows like Chopped, Cake Wars, and Restaurant Impossible, but do they honestly need to show the same episodes over and over again? I would rather see more cooking shows and they seem to be cutting those off at 11am CST on the weekends. Please Food Network, add more cooking shows to your line up because I get sick of watching the re-runs. Because of that, I am now a fan of Big Bang Theory. 🙂
I cut this recipe in half and if using 1% milk and low fat cheddar cheese and low fat colby cheese the nutrition info is as follows. It came out to 3 servings. (without croutons)
Calories 208 | Fat 5.74g | Carbohydrate 22.34g | Fiber 0.9g | Protein 15.97g
Ingredients from Sunny Anderson
- 2 cups elbow pasta, cooked until almost al dente
- 8 ounces Cheddar, ½ cubed, ½ shredded
- 8 ounces Colby cheese, cubed
- 8 ounces Monterey pepper jack cheese, cubed
- 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 4 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup half-and-half
- ¼ cup finely grated onions
- 4 slices bread
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Special equipment: 2-quart baking dish
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, toss together the pasta with the cheese cubes and pour into the baking dish.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, dry mustard, nutmeg. Add the sour cream, egg, heavy cream, half-and-half and onions. Pour over the pasta and cover with the shredded Cheddar. Bake uncovered until the top is just beginning to brown, about 35 minutes.
Meanwhile, cut the bread into crouton-size squares. In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter, add the bread cubes and toast until golden. Sprinkle the bread cubes on top of the macaroni and cheese and bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes more.
Spicy Macaroni and Cheese
- Yield: 6 to 8 1x
Ingredients
- 2 cups elbow pasta, cooked until almost al dente
- 8 ounces Cheddar, ½ cubed, ½ shredded
- 8 ounces Colby cheese, cubed
- 8 ounces Monterey pepper jack cheese, cubed
- 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 4 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup half-and-half
- ¼ cup finely grated onions
- 4 slices bread
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Special equipment: 2-quart baking dish
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, toss together the pasta with the cheese cubes and pour into the baking dish.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, dry mustard, nutmeg. Add the sour cream, egg, heavy cream, half-and-half and onions. Pour over the pasta and cover with the shredded Cheddar. Bake uncovered until the top is just beginning to brown, about 35 minutes.
Meanwhile, cut the bread into crouton-size squares. In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter, add the bread cubes and toast until golden. Sprinkle the bread cubes on top of the macaroni and cheese and bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes more.
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