bacon

Maybe it’s because I’m a guy, but I see mac and cheese like a good pair of blue jeans. It goes with everything and any occasion. Just as you can wear blue jeans with a worn out t-shirt, or a sweatshirt, or a pull-over sweater, or a crisply ironed shirt and tie, so goes mac and cheese.

Mac and cheese rarely takes top billing, when it comes to planning a dinner but I guarantee that if it’s really good mac and cheese, you won’t have any leftovers.

True to my style, I prepare mac and cheese differently almost every time I make it. I can’t tell you how many bad versions I’ve made but I can say I have made some good ones. I have a tendency to let my free spirit roam and I start improvising, even when I have a perfectly good recipe in front of me. I guess that’s what makes me, me. If you want to make really good mac and cheese, follow the recipe by Kelsey Nixon, from the Food Network. https://www.kelseynixon.com/mac-cheese/

Kelsey’s recipe is easy to follow and, as far as I’m concerned, flawless. The secret is Muenster cheese. Muenster cheese is perhaps the best melting cheese ever. And, if you learn nothing else from that recipe, know that homemade mac and cheese starts with a béchamel (white sauce). A béchamel is simply a roux with warm milk added to it.

I didn’t have Muenster on hand this time so I opted for Colby-Jack. Both Colby-Jack and cheddar cheese melt well but if over-heated they can break down, and there goes the lovely cheese sauce.

I should also note that I did not take photos throughout the cooking process. I was hungry and I was in a hurry. Such is the life of a working man.

1 Tbs kosher salt

2 cups elbow macaroni

3 strips cooked bacon

¼ cup butter

¼ cup all-purpose flour

4 cups milk

1 tsp dry mustard (essential!)

1 Tbs hot sauce

8 oz sharp cheddar cheese

8 ounces Colby-Jack cheese

In a 4 quart pot, boil water and add kosher salt. Add pasta and cook until soft…just a bit beyond al dente. Reserve 1/3 cup water from cooked pasta and set aside. Strain the pasta and set aside.

In a large heavy saucepan, over medium/low heat add the butter. Once the butter has melted, add the flour to make a roux. Heat for just a minute or two.

Heat the milk in the microwave, or stove top, to near boiling. Slowly introduce 3 cups of the milk to the roux. Turn the heat down (or off) while adding and mixing the milk. Add the pasta water and dry mustard (and a little black pepper if you like). Add the hot sauce and stir to combine. Turn the heat up and bring the sauce to a boil. Once the sauce begins to boil, turn the heat down.

Set the heat to low and slowly add the Colby-Jack and sharp cheddar cheese. Gently stir with a spatula but do not over stir. Low heat and minimal stirring helps reduce the possibility of the sauce breaking. Add the other cup of warm milk and gently stir. Add the pasta and stir to coat the pasta.

Turn out to an oven proof serving bowl and place in a 350° oven for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and top with crumbled bacon

I served this with steamed broccoli, bite-sized fried chicken and crunchy, fried shrimp.

I usually don’t start thinking about what to make for dinner until I’m in the car, on my way home. On a good day, it’s a 20 minute trip. When there’s heavy traffic it can take 40 minutes. The good thing about the drive home is that I pass my favorite grocery store ALDI. I will sometimes pop in to buy just a few items and then head on to the house.

On this particular day, I didn’t want to make any stops. I just wanted to get home. I wasn’t coming up with any ideas for dinner and my mind started to wander. By the time I pulled into the driveway, I knew what I was going to do.

I wouldn’t call this a meal, because it’s just chicken on a stick but, it was something that I wanted to try and I knew that it wouldn’t take too long to make.

I decided on making this two different ways. I wanted to see if I preferred the marinated version or the version that uses a dry rub for the chicken. As it turns out, I liked both.

Ingredients (for both versions):

1 lb. chicken breast meat, sliced in 1” long strips

1 lb bacon

3 Tbs brown sugar

1 Tbs chili powder

1 Tbs cayenne powder

12 wooden skewers

Version 1:

Ingredients for the marinade:

3 Tbs soy and 2 Tbs hot sauce

Version 2:

Ingredients for the dry rub:

2 Tbs chili powder, 1 Tbs garlic powder, 1 tsp cumin, ½ tsp paprika

Note: after tasting this, I will use ½ tsp cumin next time. I like cumin but it overpowered the other flavors.

Directions:

Soak the wooden skewers in water for at least 15 minutes.

Cut the chicken in 1” thick strips. Divide equally.

Mix the marinade ingredients and pour over one half of the chicken. Marinate for 30 minutes.

Mix the ingredients for the rub. Cover the other half of the chicken with the rub. Set aside.

Mix the brown sugar, chili powder and cayenne powder together. Lay the bacon on a clean surface. Sprinkle both sides of the bacon with the sugar and chill powder mixture.

Set the oven to 350°. Lay a metal rack on a backing sheet.

Wrap a slice of bacon around a piece of chicken and run a skewer through one end of the chicken and then pierce the other end. Lay the skewered chicken on the rack. Continue wrapping and skewering the chicken. Once the rack is full, put it in the oven.