In the Kitchen with Beecher’s Mac and Cheese

Have you heard of the Seattle-based handmade cheese company Beecher’s? Though I lived in Seattle, I never heard about the “World’s Best Mac and Cheese.” It’s apparently so popular they even overnight ship frozen M&C straight to your door. Insane, I know. So I decided to make this “world’s best” M&C. I found the recipe on the Seattle Post Intelligencer and located the cheese conveniently at my local grocery store. Apparently the taste is all in the cheese and Beecher’s is supposed to be super tasty. Pounds of cheese later, I was a big fat fatty. Yes, it was good, creamy and delish! I wouldn’t say world’s best, but very yummy.

‘WORLD’S BEST’ MAC AND CHEESE

4 servings as a side dish

INGREDIENTS:

6 ounces penne pasta
2 cups Beecher’s Flagship Sauce (recipe follows)
1 ounce cheddar, grated ( 1/4 cup)
1 ounce Gruyere cheese, grated ( 1/4 cup)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chile powder

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Oil or butter an 8-inch baking dish.

Cook the penne 2 minutes less than package directions. (It will finish cooking in the oven.) Rinse pasta in cold water and set aside.

Combine cooked pasta and Flagship Sauce in a medium bowl and mix carefully but thoroughly. Scrape the pasta into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the top with the cheeses and then the chile powder. Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

NOTE: If you double the recipe to make a main dish, bake in a 9-by-13-inch pan for 30 minutes.

BEECHER’S FLAGSHIP CHEESE SAUCE

Makes about 4 cups

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
14 ounces semihard cheese, such as Beecher’s Flagship, grated (about 3 1/2 cups)
2 ounces grated semisoft cheese, such as Beecher’s Just Jack
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

PREPARATION:

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat and whisk in the flour. Continue whisking and cooking for 2 minutes. Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly. Cook until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat. Add the cheese, salt, chile powder and garlic powder. Stir until the cheese is melted and all ingredients are incorporated, about 3 minutes. Use immediately, or refrigerate for up to three days.

NOTE: A single batch of sauce makes enough for a double recipe of macaroni and cheese.

REVIEW:

I used more pasta that instructed. 6 ounces isn’t a lot! So I just eye balled it.

I didn’t use chilli powder because I’m a weenie and can’t handle the heat. I substituted it with half paprika and half nutmeg. I also sprinkled nutmeg over the top of the cheese instead of the chilli powder.

Addicted to Sushi Stop

I literally just discovered Sushi Stop and have already been here three times already. Why do I love this place? Everything is $2.75. Did you hear that? $2.75!!! Curry chicken – $2.75. Sushi and maki rolls $2.75!!! I am addicted. It’s a tiny little place with seating around the sushi chefs. It keeps things speedy which I like! The qualityis pretty damn good for the price.

Here are my faves… (and I mean faves!)

Sushi Stop

Inside Sushi Stop

Seared Yellowtail Sushi

Seared White Tuna Sushi

Unagi Sushi

Avocado Roll with Unagi

Salmon Sushi with Truffle Oil/Sea Salt. Albacore Sushi.

Chopped Yellowtail with Truffle Oil Handroll

Curry Chicken Udon

Tempura Udon

My First Dumpling Marathon

I’ve been craving Chinese food lately. This past Memorial Day weekend brought me to the Asian grocery store where I purchased all the ingredients to make them. And yesterday I dedicated myself to an all day dumpling marathon. I’ve made dumplings before but never have I made them for 8 hours! That’s a solid work day! I felt like I was in working a rice patty field or had a dumpling business! Talk about work force hoe. My arms ached and my back hurt. But hundreds of these suckers later, I had a stocked freezer. B said that in my sleep that night, my hands were making grabbing motions. Yes, I was dreaming dumplings.

San Francisco Edition: Discovering Blue Bottle Café

Blue Bottle Cafe

One of my favourite things to do is just sit in a café, especially in Europe. Europe just exudes café au lait et les cigarettes, neither of which I do. The North American café scene, though still great, it’s just not the same. But you can still find cute little cafés with so much personality and character.

In San Francisco, we stumbled upon Blue Bottle Café. Though it was tucked away in what seemed to be an industrial block with nearby restos and shops, it was incredibly popular. It was in a large building, hidden, barely seen with very little signage. I love incognito places that you stumble upon. It’s funny because Blue Bottles are extremely popular in San Francisco and have many locations. Yet, this particular location was small, but very bright and open. It had a very long cafeteria in the middle of the café and breakfast bars along the windows. And check out the instruments they use to make their coffee. Insane! I loved this place and the food was delish.

French Toast

Poached Eggs and Cured Ham with Gruyere Fondue

Coffee and Espresso

In the Kitchen with Gordon Ramsay’s Pasta with Crab

I scored some plumpy fresh crab meat and decided to make a linguini with it. It only needed about half of what I bought, so I’ll be making another crab dish very soon. I adjusted Ramsay’s dish around but here’s what the original calls for.

Gordon Ramsay’s Angel Hair Pasta with Crab, Chilli and Lime

4 servings

Ingredients

200g angel hair pasta
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 red chilli
4 spring onions
Approx 75ml dry white wine
1 lime
250g white crab meat
Handful of flat leaf parsley
Salt
Black pepper
Olive oil
Extra virgin olive oil

Cooking the Crab

Preparation

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. When it comes to a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook according to pack instructions until al dente (approximately 3-4 minutes).

Heat another large pan with the olive oil. Chop the spring onions, thinly slice the chilli (deseed if you prefer) and crush the garlic. Sauté for 1-2 minutes and season with salt and pepper.

Add the wine to the pan and cook out for a minute to reduce. Add the crab meat, stir together and allow to heat through.

Drain the pasta and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add the pasta to the crab mixture, chop the parsley and toss the ingredients to combine.

Divide between warm plates and serve immediately with a generous squeeze of lime juice, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Pasta with Yummy Crab

Review

This was a very tasty dish and leaves a lot of the flavour of the crab intact. Very yum, but here are the minor adjustments I made to my dish:

• I used linguini pasta instead of angel hair.
• I didn’t add the chilli flakes though I acknowledge it would have given it a good kick! But I’m a weenie and can’t handle the spice!
• I also used lemon instead of lime.