Cajun Macaroni and Cheese

Hello! 

The weather has been running hot and cold here.  Literally!  I guiltily turned the central air on last week when the house just didn't cool down enough for our preferred sleeping temperature. 

After sleeping for 10 years above an uninsulated front porch (the "summer porch" a lot of older homes had, which is basically a room that's almost all windows, so you can catch a breeze in the summer heat), we REALLY have come to like a cold room.  This is definitely not the usual November weather- some days have been in the high 60's, and today is a much colder 34.

During one of the cold days, Jeffrey decided to write up a recipe we've been enjoying for a year or so. This is his own recipe, arrived at through trial and error.  Every batch was just a little bit better!

Cajun Macaroni and Cheese is definitely not an inexpensive comfort food because of all the cheese, but the taste is so good that every time I bring a container for lunch, someone in my office comments on how good is smells.  It tastes even better!

And as usual, we make massive amounts, because even with all the cheese, this recipe freezes very well.  If you're going to go to all the trouble of putting this together, you might as well be able to enjoy your hard work for awhile!

-Juli

Cajun Macaroni and Cheese

yield = 14-16 servings

Topping:

5 -6 slices fresh bread

1 cup grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

4 tablespoons minced parsley

½ teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper

½ teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika

¼ teaspoon sea salt

4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

24 ounces Andouille sausage, sliced

1 large onion, minced

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 pounds elbow macaroni

Sauce:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour, divided

6 cups milk, divided

1 pound sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

8 ounces gruyere cheese, shredded

1 pound American cheese, shredded

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika

¾ teaspoon cayenne pepper

¾ teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Directions:

Prepare two 9x13 casserole dishes by spraying with nonstick cooking spray.

Topping:

Process bread into unevenly-sized crumbs.    Combine bread crumbs, Parmigiano-Reggiano, parsley, black pepper, paprika and salt in a medium mixing bowl.  Pour the melted butter on top of the bread crumb mixture and stir to combine.  Set aside.

Melt 1 tbsp butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add sliced Andouille sausage and onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the sausage is lightly browned and the onion is translucent (5-6 minutes).  Add garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Transfer sausage mixture to a bowl, cover and set aside.

 

Start water boiling and prepare the macaroni according to package directions.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Sauce:

Start at about the same time you start the water boiling for the macaroni.

In the same Dutch oven used to cook the sausage and onions, melt 6 tablespoons butter over medium heat.  When the butter is bubbling, add ¼ cup of the flour and whisk to combine.  Whisk in the rest of the flour, ¼ cup at a time, to make a roux.   Whisk in one cup of milk and whisk until smooth.  Whisking constantly, add two more cups of milk, one cup at a time, until smooth.   Cook until slightly thickened (about 2 minutes), then add the final 3 cups of milk and cook, whisking constantly, until the sauce starts to thicken (about 10 minutes). 

Reduce heat to medium-low, then add the grated cheddar and gruyere cheeses 1 cup at a time, whisking until smooth before adding the next cup.  Repeat until all of the cheddar and gruyere are incorporated into the sauce, then repeat with the American cheese.  Whisk in the Worcestershire sauce, mustard powder, paprika, cayenne, black pepper and salt.   Remove from heat.

Assembly:

Drain the macaroni.    Divide the macaroni and the sausage mixture evenly between the two casserole dishes,  add half of the sauce into each casserole, then stir to combine.  Sprinkle half of the topping mixture over each casserole, then transfer to the preheated oven.

Cook for 35 minutes, rotating the casserole dishes once during cooking.  Remove from the oven and let cool 10 minutes.  Serve.  

We like to package the leftovers into sandwich-sized freezer-safe containers.  This size is good for an individual work-day lunch.  Microwave and enjoy!

Southwestern Cabbage Jambalaya

We've been getting cabbage lately from our CSA.  Truth be told, neither of us are huge cabbage fans.  In fact, the only thing I can recall ever cooking with cabbage is egg rolls.   But since we have the cabbage, we've been looking for things to do with it.  And since our garden is giving us lots of hot peppers right now, something that would combine hot peppers and cabbage would be a real plus.

Looking online, I found an intriguing recipe on allrecipes.com for Cabbage Jambalaya.  That recipe got pretty good reviews, and several of the comments offered helpful ideas, so I decided I'd use that as the basis of my recipe.  That recipe didn't call for hot peppers, but since cayenne pepper and paprika are key elements of Cajun spice blends, I figured the hot peppers would work.    At the same time, I got another idea.  Bell peppers are pretty much ubiquitous in Cajun cooking, but there's something in bell peppers that makes them intolerable to me.   I like lots of other sorts of peppers, though, and the supermarkets have been getting in fresh poblanos, so I figured I'd toss those in to make something of a Cajun-Southwestern fusion recipe.

The result was a thick, hearty, spicy stew, and it was delicious.  The cabbage cooked down, became tender and absorbed a lot of the seasonings.  The flavors and textures of the spicy sausage, beef, and vegetables blended together well, and the seasoning and the mix of peppers provided a pleasant degree of heat.  The Jambalaya was also filling without being heavy.  This recipe is definitely a winner, and we're looking forward to enjoying the leftovers as workday lunches.

So, our first cabbage recipe turned out great, which makes us more enthusiastic about trying out some other ways of using cabbage.  Hopefully they will turn out as good as this, but even if they don't, we'll still have a good use for cabbage, because this recipe is good enough to earn a spot among our go-to recipes.

Southwestern Cabbage Jambalaya

yield = 9-10 servings

1 1/2             pounds andouille sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1                   pound lean ground beef
1                   large yellow onion, chopped
4                   fresh chili peppers, minced
3                   stalks celery, minced
2                   poblano peppers, seeded and chopped
4                   teaspoons minced garlic
1                   teaspoon Cajun seasoning blend
1                   medium head cabbage, chopped
4-5               medium tomatoes, chopped
4                  cups beef broth
1 1/2            cup long-grain white rice

Brown the sausage in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.   Transfer the browned sausage to a bowl and set aside.

Add the ground beef, onions and chili peppers to the Dutch oven and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes, then stir in the celery and poblano peppers and cook until the beef is evenly browned and the vegetables are starting to get tender (about 5 minutes).

Clear a space in the center of the Dutch oven and add the garlic and Cajun seasoning.  Cook for about 45 seconds, then return the sausage to the Dutch oven.  

Add the cabbage, tomatoes and beef broth.  Stir to mix the ingredients together, and scrape the bottom of the Dutch oven with the edge of a spoon to loosen the fond from the bottom of the pan.  Stir in the rice, bring to a boil, then cover the Dutch oven, turn heat to low and let simmer until the rice is cooked (about 30 minutes).   Serve with garlic bread or other crusty bread.

Suggestions:
If you'd like a dish with more or less heat, increase or decrease the amounts of chili peppers and Cajun seasoning to taste.  If you'd like something more authentically Cajun, use green bell peppers in place of the poblanos.

Notes:
We used Penzey's Cajun Seasoning and Rachel Ray Beef Flavored Stock-in-a-Box, which is Cook's Illustrated's pick for best commercial beef broth. 

Juli here.  When Jeffrey said we weren't cabbage fans, in my case that actually translates to I will not eat cabbage, I hate it so much.  So this recipe is ground-breaking for me!  It's very, VERY good, and if I was naming the recipe I'd call it "Cabbage Jambalaya for People Who Hate Cabbage."  Or maybe not.  Heh.  Anyway, don't be afraid to cook this, even if you really don't like cabbage.