Stuff Happens

I shouldn't have been surprised that the unexpected happened two days in a row. After all, there's no reason my personal life shouldn't mirror the current state of the stock market.

At 6:00 pm, just as I was getting ready to start dinner, my teenage son limped in the door. "I broke my big toe and need to go to the emergency room." We've been through this drill before, so I quickly put the food back into the refrigerator and grabbed my car keys. Approximately 3 hours later (it was a slow night in the ER) he was the proud owner of a new walking cast and famished.

I wish I could say we headed straight home, where I effortlessly whipped up a meal capable of satisfying his appetite in less than 15 minutes. No, his comfort food of choice was KFC, and at 9:30, who was I to argue?

I don't claim to be the world's most discerning diner, so perhaps it's not shocking that at times I find a bucket from the colonel "finger lickin' good." It certainly excels at delivering salty fat when that's what your body is craving. Nor will I ever vote for KFC as the best fried chicken. However, there is a time and place for everything, and last night the colonel was a life saver.

Things Change

Sometimes life throws a monkey wrench in our meal plans. An unexpectedly, uncomfortable dentist appointment, forced a last minute switch to an easy to chew meal and my son’s request last night for macaroni and cheese.

In earlier times, that would have me reaching for a box of Annie’s or Kraft’s. Homemade macaroni and cheese was just too much work for a “kids” food. The need for two pots, one for the sauce and the other to cook the pasta, was the real deal killer. My sister-in-law whips-up a mean mac’n cheese: a white sauce from scratch with freshly grated cheese. I wanted that rich and creamy home cooked taste, with the convenience of a box.

I’ve succeeded in creating a one-pot recipe that delivers on both counts. The key is to follow the same steps you use with the box: Cook the pasta, drain and return to the pot, add butter, allow to melt, sprinkle flour over the buttered macaroni, mix, gradually add warmed milk, and then slowly add grated cheese (from a bag of course!) It takes a bit of stirring to get the cheese melted and incorporated, but the result is worth the minimal effort. Best of all, there was only one pot to clean.

For those of us with a fully functioning set of teeth, dinner was rounded out with a salad of tomato, hearts of palm, and cucumber, and chicken Italian sausages.

RECIPE FOR ONE POT MACARONI & CHEESE

1 box elbow pasta (usually 1 lb.)
1 1/2 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 Tbsp. flour
1.5 cups low fat milk, warmed in microwave (about 2 minutes on high)
2 cups grated cheddar ( equivalent to one small bag of pre-grated cheese)
salt & pepper to taste

Cook and drain pasta. Return to pot. Over a low heat, add butter to the pasta. Stir to evenly coat pasta with the melted butter. Sprinkle the buttered pasta with the flour, stirring to coat evenly. Slowly add the warmed milk while stirring. Add the cheese by handfuls, stirring to fully melt between additions. Salt & pepper to taste. Sometimes I add a few dashes of hot sauce. If you want a runnier sauce add an additional 1/2 cup of warmed mile.

In the Beginning

I grew-up in a home with two women who loved to cook and entertain, my mother and my maternal grandmother. My grandmother arrived in the US from Russia when she was a young teen. Her specialties were the baked goods of the old country: kuchens, strudels, and sweet cakes.

My mother, on the other hand, was a thoroughly modern American cook. Jell-O, condensed cream of mushroom soup, bottles of Italian salad dressing, all of these wonderful convenience foods of the 60's had a central role in both her daily and special occasion repertoire. By the time I was in high school, though, her monthly gourmet club dinners were broadening her palate, techniques, and ingredient list.

Not surprisingly, with encouragement from my mother, one of my first purchases after graduating from college was an eleven-piece starter set of Le Creuset cookware. Thirty years later, that cookware is still the workhorse of my kitchen, and a link to memories of so many wonderful meals with family and friends.