Bahamas: Macaroni Cheese
I will never cook any macaroni cheese in any other way ever again.
I mean it. This is the best mac and cheese I've ever eaten (sorry mum). It blew my mind. The damage is done, I will never look at any other macaroni cheese and think "mm that looks like the best mac and cheese ever" because it would be a big fat lie.
I honestly can't even comprehend how damn excited I am about this meal. My partner isn't particularly fussed about mac and cheese. When I told him that this is what we'd be having his face lit up with disappointment. I hadn't even put it in the oven before I made him taste test it because I knew it would completely change his mind. And it did. I knew it would. This macaroni cheese is the absolute bomb.
And it was EASY! I don't make mac and cheese that often because it always takes so long to make the cheese sauce and my kitchen ends up covered in flour (what's new) and my arm is sore because I've been whisking the flour and milk and cheese constantly so that it doesn't get clumpy.
This recipe takes that entire process away. In fact, you don't even have to use a separate pot for your cheese sauce. I KID YOU NOT. It's all done in the same pot as the pasta. I KNOW, I WAS SURPRISED TOO.
Maybe other people already make it all in one pot. You might be reading this and be like "duh Savannah how else would you do it." But like I said, this dish rocked my socks off. I video called my mum last night and told her the same. I knocked it out of the park with this one.
I think it's the chilli. I don't tend to put a lot of chilli into my food because I don't love spicy food. And actually, the recipe I was following called for a habanero pepper but I know I have other meals coming up in the project that require scotch bonnet chillis, so I just used those (and obviously halved the quantity because scotch bonnet is significantly hotter than habaneros. I know this because I googled it, having never heard of scotch bonnets before).
I've also never heard of using EGGS in a mac and cheese. But the eggs paired with evaporated milk (another ingredient that I had a big WTF reaction to)... it all worked out.
I mean. It was sublime. Try it, and then call me and tell me that I'm right. You'll never make a different version of mac and cheese ever again.
Bahamian Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
Serves 4
I mean it. This is the best mac and cheese I've ever eaten (sorry mum). It blew my mind. The damage is done, I will never look at any other macaroni cheese and think "mm that looks like the best mac and cheese ever" because it would be a big fat lie.
I honestly can't even comprehend how damn excited I am about this meal. My partner isn't particularly fussed about mac and cheese. When I told him that this is what we'd be having his face lit up with disappointment. I hadn't even put it in the oven before I made him taste test it because I knew it would completely change his mind. And it did. I knew it would. This macaroni cheese is the absolute bomb.
And it was EASY! I don't make mac and cheese that often because it always takes so long to make the cheese sauce and my kitchen ends up covered in flour (what's new) and my arm is sore because I've been whisking the flour and milk and cheese constantly so that it doesn't get clumpy.
This recipe takes that entire process away. In fact, you don't even have to use a separate pot for your cheese sauce. I KID YOU NOT. It's all done in the same pot as the pasta. I KNOW, I WAS SURPRISED TOO.
Maybe other people already make it all in one pot. You might be reading this and be like "duh Savannah how else would you do it." But like I said, this dish rocked my socks off. I video called my mum last night and told her the same. I knocked it out of the park with this one.
I think it's the chilli. I don't tend to put a lot of chilli into my food because I don't love spicy food. And actually, the recipe I was following called for a habanero pepper but I know I have other meals coming up in the project that require scotch bonnet chillis, so I just used those (and obviously halved the quantity because scotch bonnet is significantly hotter than habaneros. I know this because I googled it, having never heard of scotch bonnets before).
I've also never heard of using EGGS in a mac and cheese. But the eggs paired with evaporated milk (another ingredient that I had a big WTF reaction to)... it all worked out.
I mean. It was sublime. Try it, and then call me and tell me that I'm right. You'll never make a different version of mac and cheese ever again.
Bahamian Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 250g uncooked macaroni elbows (or other pasta shape, I actually used fusilli)
- 1/4 cup butter
- 350g cheddar cheese, grated
- 1/2 green capsicum, diced
- 1/4 onion, diced
- 2 eggs
- Salt and pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprkia
- 1/4 scotch bonnet pepper, diced (or 1/2 habanero pepper, whichever you have available)
- 180mL evaporated milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C.
- Bring a saucepan of water to boil, with a pinch of salt added. Cook pasta until tender. Strain pasta and place back into the pot, with the butter. Keep on a medium-low heat and stir until butter melts.
- Slowly stir in most of the cheese evenly, leaving about 1/4 of it for the topping later.
- Add paprika, black pepper, onion, capsicum, and the scotch bonnet pepper. Stir well until cheese is completely melted and everything is mixed together.
- Beat eggs lightly and stir into mixture.
- Carefully add evaporated milk, pouring about 1/4 cup at a time. Stir well until mixed completely.
- Pour the mixture into a large casserole dish, or deep baking tray or whatever you have. Top with the remainder cheese and loosely cover with tin foil.
- Bake for one hour before removing the foil and grilling the top for another 5-10 minutes until golden.
Now, another point is that Bahamian mac and cheese is served in squares, once it has cooled down. So you could either wait until cool before serving, or if you are like me and too excited about it, just dig in straight away.
DELICIOUS.
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