Pasta and Cheese |
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This dish may take a little longer to prepare than packaged macaroni and cheese products, but you can vary the type of pasta used and make it more fun. Many of the home-made pasta and cheese recipes involve baking the dish after assembly, but this one works well without baking. It is definitely something young people old enough to handle packaged macaroni and cheese can make for themselves. A word of caution for children: you may
want to cube or grate the cheese for them. Graters, especially, can
be treacherous to use. They are hard on the knuckles. Blanket
the end of a block of cheese with a dishcloth or couple layers of paper
towel to prevent unwanted cuts (like waiters in Italian restaurants do for
grating parmesan on your pasta), or purchase pre-grated cheese in
bulk. Even if you are no longer a youngster and suffer loss of
dexterity or mobility in the hands, you can appreciate this also. |
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Have fun with the pasta shapes. Spaghetti, vermicelli, and such long pastas are not recommended. Try bow tie, rigatoni, penne, rotelle, small shells or whatever strikes your fancy. Haven't tried alphabet, but it might work too. Cook the pasta according to the package directions with 2 exceptions: 1. Salt is not required because the cheese has enough. 2. Cook pasta for 7 minutes only to prevent "mushy" pasta. After you try this once or twice and decide you like softer pasta, adjust the cooking time to suit your taste. Drain water from pasta at end of cooking time. Add milk and heat
but do not boil. Gradually add cheese a "few pinches" at a
time. Stir constantly on very low temperature until cheese is
thoroughly melted into pasta. Let sit covered for about 2 minutes
and serve. |
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