Curried Mac and Cheese

I'm not the type of person that can eat the same thing everyday. I've learned through trial and error that one dish three times in a row is my limit! I was discussing this with my boyfriend, and he said it depended on the dish. Japanese food is definitely a cuisine he doesn't get sick of as easily. I guess being Japanese American, eating Japanese food growing up makes it easy for us in that aspect. He did mention that he can probably eat curry for 2 weeks straight and not get sick of it. The way he said this made me think is that he knows this fact from experience not just a "what if" situation.

When I saw this recipe for Curried Mac and Cheese on the blog Within the Kitchen, I thought "Wow, how can I go wrong? My BF loves curry ... and Mac and Cheese ... What guy doesn't love Mac and Cheese?" He loved it! As he was happily munching away on the the Mac and Cheese he said "I feel like a kid eating dessert!"

Recipe for Curried Mac and Cheese

3 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
4 T butter
1 onion, chopped
4 T flour
2 T white wine (optional)
2 c whole milk
2-3 cups shredded cheese*
1-2 t curry powder**
1/2 t paprika
salt and pepper to taste***
1/8 cup breadcrumbs (from the tin)

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Cook macaroni according to directions on the package. Do not salt the water since you do not know how salty the cheese sauce is yet.

Saute butter and onions in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat until softened. Add flour to make a paste, and allow to cook a bit to get rid of the floury taste. Add wine and mix until smooth. Add milk 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until smooth before adding more. Add all but one cup of cheese and mix until melted and smooth. Then mix in the curry powder one teaspoon at a time and tasting to check the flavor. Add paprika, salt, and pepper to your liking. Mix the sauce with the cooked macaroni.

Grease or use cooking spray**** a 8 inch square pan. Put the mac and cheese mixture into the pan. Mix the remaining shredded cheese with the breadcrumbs and about 1/8 teaspoon of curry powder. Sprinkle this mixture on top of the mac and cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbling and warmed through. If the top does not have a nice crispy top, place in broiled for about one minute.

*I used mostly sharp cheddar and some havarti, since that's what I had in the frig and needed to use up.
**Depends on how strong your curry powder is. Be careful not to use too much, you'd like it to subtly taste like curry ... think curried mac and cheese, not curry with a hint of mac and a sprinkle of cheese. Curry flavor also starts developing more as it cooks
***Also be careful with the salt since some cheese tend to be extremely salty. You can always add more salt, but you cannot unsalt a dish.
****I really like to use those floured cooking sprays for baking for casseroles. It really keeps the creamy sauce from sticking to the pan.

His FAVORITE Banana Bread

If I fell and broke my head and forgot how to make this, I seriously think the boy will break up with me. This is his all time favorite ... I asked him to rank everything I made for him and this always shows up in the top 3. And he doesn't even like sweets, but he loves this banana bread ... in the morning ... with his coffee. There have been times when he'll eat the whole loaf in one sitting, like its a muffin. One huge muffin for him and him only. Of course, I think he was drunk.

I actually found this recipe on another blog. Its very moist and the crumb topping is the best. I'm not sure I want to give away this other secret but, you can frequently find overripe fruit sold in bags for $1.50 at Westside Market in Morningside Heights. Its outside on the lower shelf below the newer fresher veggies. Every now and then I can find a whole 5 or 6 pound bag of bananas. I just throw it into the frig and let it overripen even more. Banana bread is best made from black bananas.

Recipe for Banana Bread

Dry ingredients:
1 C flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/4 C rolled oats

Wet ingredients:
1-2 very ripe banana, mashed with some chunks
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c white sugar
1/4 c sour cream
1/4 c cooking oil
1 egg

Crumb topping:
2 T butter, softens
1 T flour
2 T rolled oats
1 T brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350C.

Make the crumb topping first by combining the ingredients with a fork. Should make little chunks and balls that look like crumb.

Sift together first 4 dry ingredients. When measuring flour, be sure to aerate (fluff) it and scoop it into a measuring cup with a spoon, otherwise it'll be too dense and you'll get more flour than you want and the final product will be too heavy. Add in the oats and mix together.

In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients in the order listed. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Do this by hand (not a mixer), and do not overmix because it will cause glutens to form and make the banana bread chewy and heavy.

Grease a loaf pan. I usually use a cooking spray that's got flour and oil in it. Pour the banana bread batter into it. Then crumble the topping evenly over top. Bake for approximately 50 minutes until a toothpick shoved in the middle comes out clean.