Thursday, July 22, 2010

30 Minute Meals Mac & Cheese

30 Minute Meals - Macaroni and Cheese
This dish is so overlooked as a perfect meal. Much more popular than you would think, not easy to prepare without a good recipe but a real crowd pleaser, great Mac & Cheese
is a dish you want to know how to prepare! Here is my version, bon appetite.
This recipe feeds 6-8 adults, takes 15 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to finish. You will need a stove and an oven to make this dish and an oven proof casserole dish to finish.
Shopping list:
1. 1.5 pounds of elbow macaroni
2. 4 cups of grated cheese. I use a blend of three cheeses, Romano, Parmesan and Mozzarella. Mozzarella must account for at least 2 cups of the mixture so you get that creamy texture that makes Mac & Cheese so fine.
3. ½ cup of all purpose flour
4. 3 cups of chicken broth. ( I use Knoor)
5. Kosher salt and course ground black pepper.
6. 1 cup of plain bread crumbs
7. 2 tablespoons of melted butter
These are steps:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix the melted butter and breadcrumbs together and set aside.
3. Boil enough water to cook the pasta. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water for 6-7 minutes.
4. In a large mixing bowl combine the cheeses and flour. Mix thoroughly.
5. Heat the chicken broth almost to a boil and slowly and continuously stir in the cheese mixture until it is a smooth cheese sauce. This will take 5 minutes of constant stirring.
6. Drain the pasta.
7. Place the pasta and the cheese sauce in the casserole dish and stir to evenly distribute the cheese sauce.
8. Turn on your broiler.
9. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top.
10. Place under the broiler for 2 minutes or until the breadcrumbs are a golden brown color.
Serve this with Chianti. Chianti is a red table wine produced in Tuscany, Italy. Chianti dates back to the 13the century and was originally a white wine. Today most Chianti is a made from a blend of red grapes. The most popular grape in Chianti is Sangiovese. The Chianti producers of Italy cover a vast area of Tuscany. Chianti is the second most popular wine in Italy and a great bottle can cost as little as $12.00. Currently my favorite Chianti is Ruffino 2009. It is selling for under $11 per bottle. What I love about this bottle of wine is it only needs 20 minutes to breath and then it is perfect to drink.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Festivals Try New Techniques to Promote Attendance

Festivals Try New Techniques to Promote Attendance