Date I made this
recipe: January 6, 2013
Food for the Soul – A Texas
Expatriate Nurtures Her Culinary Roots in Paris by Monique Y. Wells
Published by: Elton-Wolf Publishing
ISBN: 1-58783-000-0
Recipe:
Macaroni and Cheese Bake – p. 75
I always have my reasons
for selecting the cookbooks that I do and today’s might seem lame to you but
was important to me: I wanted a recipe
to celebrate my Packers victory over the Minnesota Vikings in the playoff
game. That’s it. Please understand that I am a) a major
Packers’ fan and b) I am now an owner of that team having purchased a share of
stock in the organization last year.
Scoff all you want, but the Packers are the only team in the NFL that
allow community ownership and for that I am most grateful. Sure, wearing your team’s colors is fine,
going to the games is fine, but to say you own the joint? Priceless!
Now I knew darned well
that this cookbook had just what I needed – macaroni and (oh yes), [Wisconsin]
cheese, because that is the recipe that I kept going back to every time I
opened this book. All other recipes
sounded good but there is nothing like mac and cheese to cheer on the Green and
Gold (despite the fact that I made it the day after the game as a victory
dinner).
Football aside, (GO PACK
GO), this is one of my favorite cookbooks because it is just so beautiful. The artwork is phenomenal, the photos are
fabulous - it all works. (Illustrations are by Christiann Anderson; Photographs
by Daniel Czap.) And then there’s the story…
Monique Y. Wells is an
African-American woman from Texas who moved to
France in 1992 and lived to
tell the adventures of trying to source ingredients and to cook southern and
soul food in Paris. Right, good luck with that. Still, she made it work and all of her
recipes sounded yummy but I could only choose one so I went with my idea of
food for the soul – macaroni and cheese.
This recipe was good and
it was simple, two things I always appreciate, but I have to say that if you
are looking for an ooey-gooey stack of macaroni coated with cheese, this is not
your dish. This dish is more
sublime. Perhaps it is for fancy
Parisians? And while the French might
scoff at the Ritz Crackers on top, oh baby, I loved that added buttery flavor.
You should know that
although I cannot remember how it is that I heard about this book, it was one
of my “Holy Grails” for a long time and I was happy as hell to finally find
it. It sits in a place of honor on the
shelf above my computer and every so often I take it down and just look at it
(because again, it is such a beautiful book).
My only complaint, and it is minor, is that I wanted more prose. Monique’s life in Paris sounds so fascinating and yet the only
sense I got of her was from the dust jacket blurb. I want more!
And I definitely want more
mac and cheese; I shoulda and coulda doubled the recipe. Next time….
Macaroni and Cheese Bake – makes 8-10 servings
12 oz elbow macaroni,
prepared according to package directions
8 tablespoons (1 stick)
butter or margarine
4 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
3 cups milk
¼ cup chopped onion
1 lb. sharp cheese (cubed)
(Of COURSE I used Wisconsin
– GB Packers - Cheddar!)
3 ½ ounce Ritz crackers,
crumbled (one sleeve)
Paprika (optional)
Preheat the oven to
350. Prepare the macaroni according to
package directions. Drain and put back
in the pan. In another saucepan, melt
the butter. Slowly add flour, stirring
constantly to blend. (Don’t hurry this
step or you’ll end up with globs of flour instead of a suspension of flour in
butter.) Add salt and pepper; stir. Add milk and continue stirring until the
mixture becomes thick and bubbly. Add
the onion and the cheese to the pot and continue to stir. Mix the cheese sauce into the macaroni, then
pour the entire mixture into the baking dish.
Cover with cracker crumbs and sprinkle with paprika.
Bake for 35-40 minutes.
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