One Particular Kitchen » pasta

Cheeseburger macaroni

Erin @ One Particular Kitchen — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 19:35:03 +0000

I found this recipe at KevinandAmanda.com and it is such a keeper! I’ve made it three times already, and it easily converts to a freezer meal — something I’ll be needing before too much longer with baby girl on the way. It’s got a little kick of spice to it without being overwhelming, and it’s just such a comfort food. It’s everything you wanted that supper-in-a-box to be.

You will need:

1 lb lean hamburger meat
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 can Ro*tel
2 cups beef broth or water
1 cup elbow macaroni
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
3/4 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

To make your super fast and easy supper:

Brown the hamburger meat and drain off any grease, then stir in taco seasoning, Ro*tel, broth or water and macaroni. Bring to a boil then turn down to medium/low and cover; simmer for about 12 minutes or until macaroni is tender
While it’s simmering, make the cheese sauce: in a saucepan melt the butter then whisk in the flour. Cook while whisking for about five minutes until the roux turns light brown, then keep whisking while you pour in the milk and bring to a boil. Keep whisking (see a trend?) until the mixture is smooth and thick, then remove from heat and stir in the cheddar cheese till it’s completely melted in. Add in the salt and pepper, then pour over the hamburger mixture and stir it all together. Supper is served!

To make this a freezer meal let the macaroni cook for only about six minutes, but complete other steps as written. Pour the whole thing into a casserole dish then cover with a layer of plastic wrap then a layer of foil; when it’s cooled off, pop it in the freezer. When you’re ready to heat it up, thaw it in the fridge overnight, then bake at 350F for 30 minutes or so until heated through.

Taco pasta bake

Erin @ One Particular Kitchen — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 00:40:52 +0000

This is an interpretation of a dish I saw at Carrie in the Kitchen (originally at About a Bit of Everything). It’s SO tasty, but rather unphotogenic — as I suppose a lot of casseroles are.

Regardless, you should try this. Just, you know, don’t sign it up for a food modeling contest.

You will need:

1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup taco seasoning
3/4 cup water
8 ounces cream cheese, cubed
8 ounces dried pasta
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 can Ro*tel

To make:

Preheat oven to 350F
Cook pasta in salted water for two minutes less than lowest time recommendation on box (e.g. if “cook 7 minutes for al dente” then cook yours for 5 minutes); drain
Brown ground beef and drain any grease; add water and taco seasoning, stir, and let simmer uncovered 5-10 minutes; stir in cream cheese, cooked pasta and RO*TEL
Spoon into greased casserole dish and top with mozzarella cheese; bake for 20 minutes or so until cheese is bubbly and starting to brown around the edges

Bonus: this freezes like a dream! Make two and freeze one covered in a layer of plastic wrap then a layer of foil — just remember to remove the plastic wrap before baking!

Savory pasta

Erin @ One Particular Kitchen — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:46:37 +0000

This started as a desperation side dish (i.e. “OMGit’s7:30whatcanImakeintenminutes?!”) and turned out to be so tasty! It’s definitely going in the rotation.

Gather up:

4 ounces pasta
Salt
1 cup chicken broth
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

And then:

Bring chicken broth to a boil and sprinkle in some salt
Add in pasta and stir; reduce heat to medium-low (you want it just barely simmering) and put a lid on the pot; let it simmer according to cooking time on the pasta box
When time is up pour into a bowl (there will be just barely any chicken broth left; pour it in too) and add a splash of olive oil. Toss to evenly coat pasta, then sprinkle with cheese.

Quick and easy, folks!

Pimento macaroni and cheese

Erin @ One Particular Kitchen — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:48:38 +0000

I love the simplicity of this one-pot macaroni and cheese; however, after 20 hours in the car with Kiddo (who, by the way, was a car-traveling champ) in the last four days I wasn’t really feeling the urge to watch the pot as closely as I would need to in order to avoid a boiled-over-milk scene on the stove.

I also had some pimentos that had ripened in the garden while Kiddo and I were gone.

So I crossed my fingers and totally made up tried this — and it worked!

You will need:

3 Tbsp. all purpose flour
3 Tbsp. butter
2 cups milk
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dijon mustard (optional)
1.5 cups dry pasta
2 cups shredded cheese
3 fresh pimentos, peeled (like this, only tiny), seeded and minced

One-pot assembly:

Preheat oven to 375F
In a heavy, oven-safe sauce pot melt butter till foam subsides, then add flour and whisk until fully combined; add milk while whisking and turn off stovetop heat
Stir in salt, mustard, dry pasta, cheese, and pimentos; cover pot and place in oven
Cook for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through; top with additional cheese and uncover for the last few minutes if you so desire

That’s it!

Crack-a-roni: pioneer macaroni and cheese

Mama — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:19:09 +0000

Crack-a-roni. This is how The Yankee refers to this dish. My sister, too. And her husband. The Kiddo? He refers to it as he does to any foods that are not yogurt, bread, or Cheerios: “No tank you, mama.” Sigh.

Anyway! The dish! This is from my 1950 Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook. Best $20 I’ve ever spent. I stray very little from this, so here goes:

You will need:

6 Tbsp. butter
6 Tbsp. flour
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp paprika
Dash of nutmeg
2 cups milk
8 oz. uncooked macaroni
1/2 pound Velveeta* or 2 cups cheese(s) of your choice

*Even with my general aversion to foods whose ingredients I cannot pronounce, I use Velveeta here. It just totally works in this dish.

Now, just like for the chicken pot pie, we’ll make a white sauce:

Melt the butter over low heat in a heavy saucepan
Quickly whisk in flour, nutmeg, paprika, salt, and pepper, whisking until mixture is smooth & bubbly
Remove from heat; whisk in milk — for a minute it may look like it’s turning into a giant lump, but keep whisking and pouring the milk
Bring to a slow boil and boil for one minute, whisking constantly
Reduce heat to low and cook until thickened — at least ten minutes for best flavor

Easy assembly:

Preheat oven to 350F
While the white sauce is cooking, boil pasta for two minutes less than the shortest time on the box; e.g. if your pasta says to cook for 10-12 minutes, then cook for eight minutes
In a greased baking dish, layer half the pasta, half the white sauce and half the cheese; repeat so you have two layers of each component
Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes or until bubbly. At this point it’s super yummy to stop and stir it together. You can then either serve as-is for super creamy mac and cheese, or put it back in to brown up a bit. Serve hot from baking dish
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