Classic Mac and Cheese -- and a Giveaway!

Hey friends. Did the soothing effect of your Thanksgiving tryptophan wear off too soon? Are you still feeling the Black Friday frazzle? Are you weeping in your Maxwell House this morning because you have to return to work after four glorious days of non-work activities? Sounds like you could use some comfort food. And your old pal Abbie has just the thing.

Mac and cheese, people. I'm talking about mac and cheese. Warm. Gooey. Good for the soul.

You're sold, right? But wait! Put down that blue box! The best comfort foods do not require powdered cheese product. This is one you can make from scratch, and it's easy. I promise.

This recipe comes to us from Cook's Illustrated, which just published a new cookbook. It's called, as you might guess, The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook, and it's packed with 2,000 tested-to-work recipes. That's a lot of quality kitchen time, my friends.

If you'd like to add The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook to your collection, you can win one here. You could also give it as a gift -- to you mom, your gourmet uncle, or as an "I'm sorry" present to that little old lady you knocked down on your dash to score the last Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 at Walmart before dawn the day after Thanksgiving. I'm sure all would be forgiven. Little old ladies love to cook.

So, back to the book. If you want to win, details follow the recipe.

Classic Mac and Cheese (from Cook's Illustrated)

• 6 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn into quarters
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter,3 tablespoons cut into 6 pieces and chilled
• 1 pound elbow macaroni
• Salt
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
• 5 cups milk
• 8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (2 cups)
• 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (2 cups)

Pulse bread and chilled butter in food processor to coarse crumbs, about 10 pulses; set aside.

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat broiler. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add pasta and 1 tablespoon salt and cook, stirring often, until tender; drain pasta.

Melt remaining 5 tablespoons butter in now-empty pot over medium-high heat. Add flour, mustard, 1 teaspoon salt, and cayenne, if using, and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture becomes fragrant and deepens in color, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk; bring mixture to boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Off heat, slowly whisk in cheeses until completely melted. Add pasta to sauce and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is steaming and heated through, about 6 minutes.

Transfer mixture to 13 by 9‑inch broiler-safe baking dish and sprinkle with bread-crumb mixture. Broil until topping is deep golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Cool casserole for 5 minutes before serving.

It's as easy as that, friends. Get something gooey going right now. (What, it's breakfast time? That's okay. You can make mac and cheese for breakfast. No one will judge.)

AND NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!

To get the recipe for classic mac and cheese and 1,999 other tasty dishes, leave a comment here telling me your favorite food to make this season and how you follow this blog. You can comment until Sunday, Dec. 4, until 11:59 p.m. EST. Winner will be drawn at random the next day.

Good luck and good cheese.

Mini Carrot Cakes: Tiny Treats, Big Taste

Win the cookbook this recipe came from! There's still time to enter my giveaway. Contest closes March 23.

* * *

In addition to being a fan of food, I also like to run. The two, actually, are related. Because the more I run, the more I can eat.

I'm starting to train for a race in May, and as part of that, I'm thinking more carefully about what I'm eating and I'm trying to sneak more veggies in wherever I can.

Which was all the justification I needed to bake carrot cake this weekend. This recipe comes from Blue Ribbon Desserts (from Cook's Country and America's Test Kitchen) and through March 23, you can win a copy of it through my giveaway.

Making carrot cake also makes me thankful for my food processor -- it's the way to go when it comes to shredding. And while the original recipe makes 12 full-size cupcakes, I've found that's about the right amount of batter to make 36 minis. They're the perfect size for popping in your mouth. On the run or otherwise. And they're easy to make. Really.

Mini Carrot Cupcakes

• 8 T. butter, melted and cooled
• 3/4 c. granulated sugar
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 c. flour
• 3/4 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t. ground nutmeg
• Pinch ground cloves
• 8 oz. grated carrots
• Your favorite cream cheese frosting
  (mix a little cream cheese, butter, powered sugar, and vanilla -- what could go wrong?)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 3 12-cup mini muffin pans.

Whisk together the melted butter, sugars and eggs. Mix in the dry ingredients until combined. Fill the muffin pans and bake 12-15 minutes (or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean). Cool on a rack, then frost.

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies and a Giveaway from America's Test Kitchen

UPDATE: The giveaway is now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered! Subscribe to the blog for future giveaways, contests and all-around food goodness.

Hi friends! Want to win a new cookbook from some of my favorite food experts? Keep reading!

So here's what I like best about Cook's Country magazine: it's not fussy food. I don't have to go to specialty stores for the ingredients, I don't have to learn fancy-pants cooking techniques. This is what real people eat.

But it's also really good. So I'm excited that the folks at America's Test Kitchen sent me one of Cook's Country's latest books: Blue Ribbon Desserts. And I'm extra excited that one of you lovely readers will be getting one, too!

If you love classic desserts (and if you don't, let's talk), this is the cookbook for you. Vintage, heirloom, whatever you want to call them -- these recipes stand the test of time.

Think of this as part cookbook, part science lesson. For every recipe, you get a little bit of back story about the development of the recipe. I love learning about what worked and what didn't for a particular food formula. I think it makes me a better cook (and baker) overall.

You also get clear step-by-step instructions. And, perhaps the best feature: the book is spiral bound (inside a hardback outer cover) so it opens perfectly flat. No need to use clothes pins to keep the pages open. Not that I do that.

So I've got two things for you today: a recipe and a chance to win Blue Ribbon Desserts (or one of the two other books from ATK that I posted about on Sunday).

First, the winning. To enter:

1. If you don't already follow Please Pass the Pie, start.
2. Leave a comment letting me know how you follow (via RSS, etc.) and which of the three books you'd like to win (Blue Ribbon Desserts, Light & Healthy 2011 or The Best One-Dish Suppers).
3. Include a way for me to contact you. If I can't reach you through your own blog or blogger profile, you can leave an email address or a Twitter handle.

That's it! Easy. Also, this giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Sorry, foreign friends. And entries close at 11:59 p.m. EST on Wednesday, March 23. I'll pick a winner at random the next day.

UPDATE: Our winner was Whitney! Congratulations!

And now for the recipe. This one comes from the Bake Sale Cookies, Brownies and Bars chapter of Blue Ribbon Desserts.

Raspberry-Cream Cheese Brownies

For the filling:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3/4 t. vanilla extract

For the brownies:

• 2/3 c. flour
• 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 8 T unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 c. raspberry jam
• 1 1/4 c. sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 t. vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch pan. Blend all of the filling ingredients together in a food processor.

For the brownies, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Microwave the butter and chocolate together in short intervals, stirring frequently, until melted. Whisk in 1/4 c. of the jam and let cool slightly. Add the sugar, eggs and vanilla to the chocolate mixture. Whisk in the flour mixture until no white streaks are left.

Microwave the remaining jam until just warm; stir until smooth. Scrape half of the brownie batter into the pan. Dollop the cheese filling over the batter and spread evenly. Dollop the jam on the cheese mixture and use the tip of a knife to swirl. Spread the remainder of the brownie batter over the top.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few dry crumbs -- about 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool, then cut. Refrigerate.

Thai-Style Chicken and Rice and a Cookbook Review

I spend a lot of time reading recipes, and while I have a few trusted sources, the ones I like best often come from America's Test Kitchen. Why? Because they are incredibly reliable, thanks to diligent testing (as the name implies) by the recipe developer and the ATK team. (And because Christopher Kimball, fearless leader of the Kitchen, always wears a bowtie. But I digress.)

Which is why I'm pleased to be reviewing three America's Test Kitchen cookbooks (provided by ATK). And why I'm happy to offer all you fine readers a chance to win one later this week. (More about that later in the post.)

Light & Healthy 2011 is a well-rounded collection of (you guessed it) better-for-you recipes. It gives nutrition information for each recipe (something you don't normally get with ATK) and the instructions are easy to follow. It's broken up into 12 main sections, including appetizers, soups and stews, pizza and pasta, meat, breakfast, and even desserts (although when it comes to desserts, my personal philosophy is "Light, shmight -- go for the gusto").

The Best One-Dish Suppers is acompendium of, yes, one-dish suppers. I like the word "supper" because it feels cozy and comforting -- which is the kind of food this book focuses on. Dutch oven dinners, casseroles, one-pot pasta: how could you go wrong? Plus, for those of you who don't have a dish fairy like I do (his name is Ben and he is VERY good at what he does), one-dish suppers make cleaning up from the meal very easy. Maybe not as easy as eating the meal, but easy enough. The book gives great step-by-step details and even has sidebars on equipment recommendations and essential kitchen skills.

So what's not to like about these books? If I have one complaint, its the lack of color photos. I love to see what something SHOULD look like when I'm done (I think of it as aspirational cooking), so a few more pictures would have been most welcome. But there are plenty of illustrations and black-and-white inset photos to guide you, so fear not.

The recipe I made, Thai-style chicken and rice, comes from Light & Healthy 2011 (but it's also a one-dish meal, so it's really the best of both worlds). Please don't tell Mr. Kimball, but I made a few modifications -- not because I don't trust him but because I just didn't have all of the ingredients I needed on hand.

Thai-Style Chicken and Rice
Modified from a recipe from America's Test Kitchen

• 8 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 T fresh ginger, minced
• 4 T fish sauce
• 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 1 onion, minced
• 2 t. canola oil
• 1 c. brown rice, rinsed
• 1 1/4 c. chicken broth
• 4 carrots, peeled and sliced thin
• 2 cups edamame
• 2 t. lime juice

Heat the oven to 300 degrees. Combine half the garlic, 1 T ginger and fish sauce in a large bowl. Add chicken and toss to coat. Set aside.

Combine the oil, onion and pinch of salt in a dutch oven. Cover and cook over medium heat about 8 minutes, until onions soften. Stir in remaining garlic and ginger and the rice and cook about 30 seconds. Add the broth.

Place the chicken over the rice mixture. Bring to a simmer, then cover and transfer to the oven. Cook for about 40 minutes, then add carrots and edamame. Cover and continue to cook until most of the broth is absorbed -- 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven.

Transfer the chicken to a place. Cover the rice and allow to steam for about 10 minutes. Shred the chicken and stir into the rice. Plate and squeeze lime juice over each serving.

About 390 calories per 1 1/2 c. serving.

Now, about winning a cookbook of your own.

Later this week, I'll be reviewing a third cookbook from America's Test Kitchen. Check back in -- you'll have a chance to win your choice of any of the three books mentioned on this blog. Hold on to your bowties, folks.

Cozy Meals: Beef Stew

When it's cold, I like things that are cozy: sweaters, blankets, fireplaces.  I also like cozy food, and beef stew is the coziest there is.  Thick broth, soft potatoes, onions so cooked they nearly disappear.  Pair it up with just-from-the-oven bread and it's the best winter-time supper you could make.

While I've never been able to replicate my mom's beef stew recipe (I think the secret is a pressure cooker, and those things scare me), I tried a great recipe from Dixie Caviar last week.

Two tips: If you've got a smaller Dutch oven (like my 4.5 quart model), be prepared for a very full pot.  I followed the recipe closely, maybe adding an extra handful of vegetables, and I couldn't have slipped another carrot in if I tried.  And if you can be patient, make this stew one day and serve it the next.  The broth, in particular, is so much richer after it's had a chance to rest a bit, and the flavors meld really nicely.

I made a pretty simple batch of yeast rolls as a side but a nice country bread would be good, too, and my mom used to serve pumpkin bread with hers — it's like supper and dessert all at once.

Steak Has an Identity Crisis

I think chicken-fried steak is kind of a funny dish -- beef that thinks it's poultry. Of course, it is also delicious. Which is why I made some for supper.

I got the recipe from Eating Well magazine. It calls for a combination of pan frying and baking, instead of deep frying, so it's a little healthier. Not like eating a bunch of raw broccoli or anything, but better than, say, dunking a big hunk of steak in a vat of lard. So points for that.

I'll also say that this is very easy to make -- good for weeknights. And good for nights when you can't decide between chicken and steak.

The food: Healthified chicken-fried steak
The verdict: Finger-licking good

Feeling Crabby

Crab dip -- it's one of those foods I really hated as a kid. Like, until I was 26. But then some crab switch flipped in my brain and suddenly: crab dip, crab cakes, crab grass, bring it on! (That last one was a joke.)

My parents used to make crab dip at Christmas, so I've come to associate it with holiday time. I had some when I was home in December, but I decided to make it again this week -- even if it is out of season. What can I say? I like to live life on the edge.

Crab dip is super easy. You can eyeball all the ingredients and it's fun to mix (I like to use my hands). Also, I always use imitation crab meat, but feel free to use the real stuff if you're feeling flush.

Crabby Dip

• 1 lb. crab meat or imitation crab meat
  
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• A big scoop or two of mayo (1/4 to 1/2 c.)
• 1 small onion, diced
• A clove or two of garlic, minced
• A little ketchup or cocktail sauce (2 or 3 tbsp.)

Roughly chop the crab. Combine everything. Mix it up, baby. Put it in the fridge for a few hours so the flavors blend. Serve with crackers or those cute little pieces of toast.

The food: Crab dip
The verdict: It's not real crab, but it is real good

A New Recipe You Mayo Want to Try

Today was our first ever North Carolina snow day. Four inches just about shut down the Triangle, so Ben and I worked from home, then celebrated the cold with some cold-weather food.

Right after Thanksgiving, I made a turkey potpie with our leftovers. But I had more filling than I could fit in my pie crust -- leftovers from my leftovers, you could say -- so froze the extra filling, thinking it would be good someday heated and served over biscuits. Today was that day.

Normally in this situation, I'd turn to my trusty Bakewell biscuit recipe, but since I mistakenly bought self-rising flour on my last trip to the grocery store, I tried a new recipe to help use it up.

Are you ready for it? Here it is. Two cups self-rising flour. Six tablespoons mayo. That's right, mayo. A little bit of milk to hold it all together. Mix. Drop. Bake. Eat.

Baked goods made with mayo weird me out, even though I know it's just eggs and oil, but I kept an open mind and was pleasantly surprised. These biscuits were fluffus maximus.

So fluffy, in fact, that they were begging to be turned into strawberry shortcake, which I did with a little berry action and whipped cream. One biscuit recipe takes us from dinner to dessert. How versatile!

So that's self-rising flour, mayo and milk. Think about it, people.

The food: Mayo biscuits (with potpie filling -- and with strawberries and whipped cream)
The verdict: Mayo -- it's not just for deviled eggs anymore

Chili Weather We're Having

A few things to love about chili:

1. It's the perfect winter-weather food.
   
2. You don't need a recipe to make it. You can put in whatever you like.
   
3. It's a great way to use leftovers. My most recent batch included half a jar of salsa we weren't going to finish and corn from the night before.
4. It also makes great leftovers because it tastes better the second night.
   
5. You can make it in the slow cooker.
   
6. It freezes well.
7. It's an entire meal. In a bowl.
8. Even our President-Elect makes chili. Although he serves his over rice. That's weird. Based on reason number two to love chili, however, I have to accept his serving-over-rice ways.
   

Merry Christmas to Me

This is me at Christmas, about to enjoy a whole pile of one of my favorite (and Oprah's favorite) desserts: Wicked Whoopies.

Ben and I went straight to the Isamax bakery to pick up a dozen. Unfortunately, they were closed early for Christmas Eve. Fortunately, my sister made it there before they closed and picked up all my favorites: strawberry, raspberry and cream, and peanut butter.



See all that raspberry goodness?

I'd like to take this opportunity to offer a formal word of thanks to my sister for her whoopie pie foresight. Whoopie pies, it would have been a blue Christmas without you.

Taking 'Cues

Ben and I have become barbecue enthusiasts. The time-honored Southern tradition of roasting an entire pig over a wood fire has become very dear to the hearts of these two Yankees.

For those of you unfamiliar with barbecue, or for those readers who think of barbecue as an event held on the Fourth of July or similar occasions, let me point you to the wisdom of Rhett and Link, North Carolina's favorite musical comedy duo:

People not from the South think barbecue means cookout.
And that’s something they’re wrong about.
Barbecue’s not a verb.
Barbecue’s not a grill.
Barbecue is meat prepared in a very special way, which varies depending on where you are.

And when you're in Eastern North Carolina barbecue territory, like we are, barbecue is pork prepared with vinegar-based sauce. And that's it.

I'll spare you details on the Eastern-style/Western-style drama, only saying that most folks around here like Eastern-style and Ben and I are with them on that.

Our favorite barbecue spot in Bill's in Wilson. There are a lot of good things about Bill's. First -- and most important -- the food is excellent. Second, there's a lot of it. Third, it's pretty cheap. Fourth, the ambiance and decor are such that you don't feel bad if you drop a little of your barbecue on the table. Or the floor.

I usually go for the barbecue (pork -- but that goes without saying in the Tar Heel State), chicken and dumplings, hush puppies, sweet potatoes and biscuits. And peach cobbler. The photo at the top is my most recent Bill's meal. Notice the half-eaten biscuit. That's where I started.

Ben skips the dessert and does double barbecue and biscuits. He's also a sweet potato fan, likes the fried chicken and hush puppies, and has been known to try fatback but reports it isn't his favorite menu item.



I think this picture of Ben really captures our barbecue experience. See how he's savoring the moment? Or just happened to blink as I took the picture?

If you're in the neighborhood, stop in at Bill's. Tell them we sent you. But I'd recommend skipping the fatback.

It's Bean a While

For Ben's birthday back in August, we went to a restaurant that specializes in Southern favorites made with local ingredients. While neither of us were too excited about the okra (plea to actual Southerners: please do not kick us out of North Carolina!) I was very excited about my black bean cakes -- great texture and a fantastic crispy "crust," thanks to a nice panfry.

Last week I attempted to recreate them at home. The recipe I used needs a little tweaking but it definitely has potential. Also, it calls for two cups grated, raw sweet potato -- which stumped me a little bit, but it turns out that one largish potato turns out about four cups grated. That means you can make the recipe twice. I recommend enlisting a sous-chef to handle the actual grating work. Faithful sous-chef Ben prepped my ingredients while I was working late and reported that he thought his arm would fall off. (It didn't actually, in case you were worried.)


Black Bean Cakes
(makes eight)

• 1 tablespoon oil, plus more for frying
• 1/4 cup onion, minced
  
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 cups grated raw sweet potato
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup plain dried bread crumbs
• Sour cream, for serving

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Cook onions until softened, about 1 minute. Stir in garlic and cumin; cook about 30 seconds.

In a bowl, mash black beans. Stir in onion mixture and season with salt and pepper. Mix in egg, sweet potato and bread crumbs.

Heat several tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Form 8 patties with the bean mixture; cook 4-6 minutes on each side. Serve hot; top with sour cream.


These were good as is, but next time I'm thinking about ginger, red peppers or maybe just lots more garlic. It's hard to go wrong with garlic. Unless you're planning on taking leftovers for lunch the next day. At which point your coworkers may have some specific objections having to do with garlic breath.

As an additional note, Ben liked the black bean cakes but said that eating only vegetables for dinner makes him feel empty inside.

The food: Black bean cakes
The verdict: According to Ben, they're "strong enough for a man but made for a woman"

The Milk End of the Macaroni

Back when we were counselors at China Lake Baptist Camp, my friend Randi Lynn and I had a little saying: "Sorry, looks like you got the milk end of the macaroni." We used this on macaroni-and-cheese night in the dining hall, when the last camper served got more noodle and whitish liquid than actual cheese. Similar to getting the short end of the stick, if you will.

That type of situation is what I was trying to avoid tonight when I tried a new mac and cheese recipe from Cook's Country, an excellent source of comfort food, mom's-home-cooking type recipes.

Unfortunately, I had trouble at the other end of the spectrum: not enough milk. The recipe called for three cans of evaporated milk. Not one for reading recipes too awful closely prior to starting the actual cooking, I only had one can. So I improvised. By adding regular milk. Which, you guessed it, made it pretty runny.

I think I was too hard on the cooks at China Lake.

The food: Cook's Country mac and cheese
The verdict: Can someone hand me a spoon for all this milk, please?

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

I'd like to extend a hearty "thanks" to the man or woman who came up with the idea of battering and deep-frying little pieces of chicken.

This particular plate of chicken came from The Red Barn Drive-In. (I'm not clear on why they call it a drive-in, unless they want to emphasize that you can drive into the parking lot and park while you pick up your food. Although it seems like that would go without saying.) If you're on or around Riverside Drive in Augusta sometime, I'd recommend stopping by for the chicken, a yeast roll and a milkshake.

The food: Fried chicken
The verdict: Winner, winner!