Dishing It: Curried Mac and Cheese

February 24, 2011 at 11:08 am , by Gabrielle Porcaro

On to this week’s installment of “Dishing It,” I made Chef Roger Mooking’s recipe from LHJ’s March 2011 issue: Curried Macaroni and Cheese. I wanted to make it because I love gourmet updates of macaroni and cheese. I’ve had lobster mac and cheese, last night my friend had an interesting artichoke and olive mac and cheese and my most memorable was a truffle mac and cheese I had 2.5 years ago. (I think about it often). Anyway, the addition of curry intrigued me and I love asparagus! (I took this asparagus photo 4 years ago in Rome- enjoy!)

I learned something from my last “Dishing It” post (see my whoopie pie experience) and read the recipe before starting. This was a good thing because it serves 8-10 people and I was making this just for little ole’ me. Even half of this was a lot. One should note the recipe is highly addictive and is far from a light meal. Just ignore the nutritional info below the recipe (although it’s based on using whole milk and I used skim, so I’m sure I cut the calories down by half- right?) That being said, it’s a delicious dish–just make it for a group so you don’t end up eating it all yourself–which, for the record, I did not do!!! Having it for dinner and lunch the next day was enough. I resisted finishing it off and shared it with the office.

The recipe was very easy to make. The only issue I had was with the chili pepper. First, they didn’t sell Thai peppers at my super market so I grabbed another one, whose name I quickly forgot on the way home. Next, while cleaning out the seeds from the pepper the hotness caused me to start choking (my friend on the phone thought I was dying). Finally, I actually messed up the chili part of the recipe–(you’d think after it almost killed me I would’ve paid more attention) I chopped it instead of just putting a large piece of in it. I have a knack for always messing up one thing, but luckily it rarely affects the outcome.

I leave you with a thought: Mooking states that his experience in the kitchen is like  Bruce Lee “because he saw practice as an opportunity to master his craft. In the kitchen, repetition helps you do things better.” So I sit and pondering who my kitchen inspiration is. I don’t think I can say Bruce Lee because I have a tiny kitchen and can’t perform martial arts in it. After much thought, I think my kitchen experience is like an episode of “Three’s Company” minus the sexual innuendos. There’s misunderstandings, falls and sarcasm but in the end all is good and everyone is happy!

One Response to “Dishing It: Curried Mac and Cheese”

1. Written on February 24, 2011 at 12:52 pm, by Not Gab's Twin

   Amazing job! You rock!

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