Filed under: cheese, pasta, snack | Tags: fondue, macaroni and cheese, pasta, stilton, swiss
Last week Guinevere gave me some eggs, a stilton style cheese, and a baby swiss. I put them to very good use:
Stilton Mac and Cheese
1/4 lb dry pasta (elbow macaroni!)
about a tsp of butter
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp each salt and dry mustard
about 2/3 cup crumbled stilton cheese, 1/3 cup grated low-fat mozzarella or whateva, extra for sprinkling
1/2 cup milk (I used skim)
Preheat the oven to 350. Cook the macaroni according to the package directions. Drain and stir in the egg and butter. Stir in the cheese and pour into a gresed casserole dish. Mix the mustard and salt with 1/2 tbl hot water and add to the milk. Pour the milk over the top of the casserole and sprinkle on some cheese. Cook for about 45 minutes of until the custard sets.
The macaroni recipe was adapted from President Reagan’s Favorite Macaroni and Cheese on Recipezaar. The egg is critical. This was incrdibly rich and crusty and easy to make and I am just infatuated with it!
Stilton and Swiss Fondue
some stilton and swiss cheese, about twice as much swiss as stilton (6 oz altogether? play with the quantities in this recipe)
1/4 cup dry white wine
splash of brandy
black pepper and nutmeg, to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp cornstarch
bread or fruit or whateva for dipping
I kept adding wine and cheese so I am not sure what the exact quantities are. Just throw them in a saucepan, melt and mix them, and keep tasting until it is to your liking. It’s not like you can mess this up. It’s cheese and wine and garlic and brandy!!! I tried to eat it at the table but the cheese got hard before I could finish so I ended up eating it off the stove. The drawback of not having a fondue pot.
Nate and I are usually on very different meal schedules but last night the stars aligned and we decided to make dinner together. This recipe is something we both like and I posted it because it requires little preparation and was just really fun and low-stress to make together. I fried the tortillas and browned the meat while Nate put together his “specialty,” guacamole (aka the only recipe he knows). I will list what we did but you can use any variation of the these or add your own ingredients.
Tortillas = corn and fried on medium-high until crisp in oil, the base of your tostada
Guac = we just mashed up two ripe avocados with lime juice, salt, chopped cilantro, and minced red onion
Shredded lettuce = you can buy a head of lettuce and shred it yourself but we were hungry so bought it in a bag
Taco cheese = a mix of shredded cheeses with “taco seasoning.” Nate wanted cheddar but somehow I thought this would be better
Pineapple Mango Chipotle Salsa = you can use any kind but this was damn good
Refried beans = you can do this yourself but again, we were hungry, so we went for the canned variety
Ground beef = brown it over medium or medium-low heat in a skillet
Assemble everything on top of the tortilla in your preferred quantities.
Every Monday morning I drive out to the McIntyre’s house to feed, water, and pet the noses of their goats, sheep, chickens, geese, cats, dog, and llama and every Thursday Guinevere brings me some homemade goat cheese. The past two weeks she has given me pyrenees style cheese. It’s a semi-soft white cheese that tastes kind of like Drunken Goat if you’re familiar with that one. It’s firm but buttery, making it a good snacking cheese. It was also really good in a sandwich!
I first had a variation of this at the Hop Leaf in Chicago. If you like beer (particularly Belgian ales) and have only one night in the city, go here! They have about 40 beers on tap not to mention a list of bottled brews that must number in the hundreds. The food in phenomenal; their menu features local, high quality ingredients and is very reasonably priced. The atmosphere is cozy and very European and their draft and food menus are always changing (although mussels and frites are a staple). The first time I went I had a duck reuben: marble rye, slow-roasted duck breast, cranberry cream cheese spread, emmenthaler, and house-made sauerkraut with pomme frites on the side. Last time I opted for the CB&J, the inspiration for my only slightly less decadent pyrenees cheese sandwich: sourdough, house-made cashew butter, morbier cheese, and fig jam, pan-fried and served with Mac-&-Stilton Cheese and house-made chips. I ate it my homemade version with sauteed spinach on the side!
Grilled Pyrenees Cheese and Fig Jam Sandwich
two slices of bread per sandwich
thin slices of cheese (no more than a quarter inch), enough to cover the bread
fig jam
oil or butter for frying
Heat a skillet with the oil or butter over medium heat. Place the cheese on one slice of bread and spread the jam on the other. Stick ‘em together and grill them, about 4 minutes on both sides (but check to make sure it doesn’t burn!!). Cut in half and serve warm with a pile of veggies and a good beer.
(I want to add a picture but I can’t find my camera cord! You will have to be imaginative for now)
