myunmediatedlife reblogged
A restaurant in my home town makes this amazing Italian Mac with fresh tomato and basil, and I’ve finally figured out how to copy it!!
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1 box cavatappi (or another pasta with lots of curves and crevices for cheese), cooked and drained
- 2 cups italian cheeses (fresh mozzarella, parmesan, asiago, provolone - whatever you have in your fridge; those bags of shredded italian cheese are great) cubed or shredded into small pieces
- fresh tomato, diced
- fresh basil
- 2+ cloves of garlic
Steps
- preheat oven to broil setting
- melt butter in sauce pan over med-low heat, mix in flour, stirring until bubbly (add some salt and pepper if you like)
- SLOWLY stir in milk a little bit at a time, waiting until it is fully absorbed by the rue before adding in more (if you don’t do it gradually your mac will be gritty)
- after all milk is poured in, stir frequently until mixture thickens (congrats! youve just made Bechamel sauce!!), then pour in cheese, stirring in about a half cup at a time while it melts in
- roast some garlic in a skillet(cast iron is ideal) with a bit of oil until fragrant (if not using cast iron/a oven safe skillet, transfer into an oven safe dish)
- pour in cooked pasta, diced tomato, chopped basil, and sauce into dish, stirring until combined
- sprinkle some more cheese on top (I like adding lots of aged parmesan) and broil in oven until top is bubbly starting to brown a little, about 5 minutes (but watch closely - brown can turn to burnt quickly!)
You can switch up the cheeses and toppings to whatever you may have in your fridge to make all kinds of different macs! experimentation is encouraged!!!
