Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese

We ended up having a last-minute dinner guest and because I haven't been cooking large meals with my better eating habits, he is a meat and potatoes sort of fellow, so I looked through my pantry to see what I had on hand and headed to the market for a couple more ingredients.  What I came up with was Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese, from scratch!  I did not have a moment to take a photo, but it was a looker!

Here's what you'll need:

1 lb pasta (I had macaroni)
4 oz grated cheddar cheese (I used sharp, reduced fat)
4 oz grated Gruyere cheese
1 stick butter
milk (I used skim)
heavy cream (or just use more milk!)
salt and pepper
1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken of your choice (I used tenders)
flour
hot sauce
brown sugar
honey
1 scallion
breadcrumbs (I used half seasoned and half panko)
1 large broccoli head

Season chicken with salt and pepper and grill it.  While it's grilling, make your buffalo sauce:
1/4 cup hot sauce, 1 tbs melted butter, 1 tbs brown sugar, 1 tbs honey.  Once chicken is cooked, dice or shred and toss in buffalo sauce.  Set aside.

Cook pasta to box directions for al dente. (You will be baking it later, so al dente is perfect). Chop broccoli to small florets and add to cooking pasta 1 minute before pasta is done.  Once pasta is finished, drain and put back in cooking pot.

For the sauce, here's what you'll need.  Grate your cheeses ahead of time and have them set aside.  In a medium saucepan, melt the remaining 7 tbs of butter.  Sprinkle in flour, enough to soak up all the butter (1/4 cup is my guess, but it may have been more), and whisk.  You're making a bechemel sauce.  Cook out the flour and add milk, a half cup at first, whisking to work out any lumps.  Continue to add milk (I had heavy cream so I used it as well) in increments until the flour seems to not seize everything up again. Add 1 tsp salt and 3/4 tsp pepper, and your cheeses.  Whisk until cheese melts into the sauce (this should be over low heat), and add milk if you need to thin out the mixture.  It should be fairly thick.  Pour over macaroni and broccoli and fold in chicken with all the remaining sauce and chopped scallions.

Load macaroni into a baking dish, top with breadcrumbs (I sprayed my breadcrumbs with butter spray), and set into a preheated 375 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, uncovered, until the breadcrumbs are browned and sauce is bubbly. Serve with hot sauce bottle on hand for those who need a little extra punch!

*Alterations.  I planned to use cream cheese in here as well, but I grated too much hard cheeses and omitted it. Feel free to use whatever nice melting cheese you like.  Gruyere is expensive but I only used about $4 worth for this recipe.  Crumbles of your favorite bleu cheese would be great in this too.
If your family prefers another veggie instead of broccoli, change it up!  Broccolini would be nice here, asparagus, spinach, bitter greens... go nuts!
I did not have nutmeg, but if you do, grate a bit into the bechemel!

Penne Porcini

One of my favorites!

I can only seem to find dried porcini mushrooms but that's perfect for this dish because the broth is the main flavoring.

Fact: I don't like mushrooms
Fact: I still cook with them sometimes

Ingredients:
3 oz dried porcini mushrooms
penne pasta
4 cups water
1/4-1/2 c. heavy cream
salt, pepper
tarragon
marsala wine
grated cheese (parm reg, romano, or pecorino is great)
beef broth (or veg if you're going vegetarian)
corn starch

Prepare:
Heat water until near boiling point (I usually use a microwaveable container for this)
Toss in mushrooms and let soak 20 minutes or more (covered with plastic wrap or lid.. to keep steam in)
Once mushrooms are rehydrated, squeeze them out and finely dice or mince them.  I prefer not to have too many pieces each dish, so I only use about an ounce of minced porcini in the actual cooking of the dish.  If you like mushrooms, go ahead and put in the whole 3 ounces.

Cook pasta

Strain the mushroom liquid into a saucepan, add the minced porcini and bring to a simmer
Add pinch of salt, pepper, and about 1 tsp of marsala
Simmer until reduced by half
Add heavy cream until sauce is light brown in color
Add 1 tsp tarragon
Add 1/4 cup grated cheese
Add salt and pepper to taste
Add corn starch slurry (corn starch and water)
Simmer until sauce is thick
(if you reduce the sauce too much, add beef broth or vegetable broth, unless you saved some extra mushroom broth just in case!)

Toss strained pasta into sauce to coat

Garnish with grated cheese and voile! A fabulous recipe created by yours truly from a dish I had as a kid.  So great with garlic bread!

Note: if you are cooking for more than two or three people, you may need to use more broth/mushrooms to create the bold flavor.  Or, you can add beef or vegetable broth in the simmering process.