Lidia's Mac and Cheese

I dearly love a good Mac and Cheese (truthfully I am addicted) and I am always looking for that recipe that is different, unique but yet delicious. One of my favorite chefs and cookbook authors is Lidia Bastianich. Now Mac and Cheese is not Italian but truly American comfort food but Lidia's most recent book takes you to different parts of our own country in our Italian/American communities of our cities.

It's a great book that takes you to the Italian communities of New York,  New Orleans, Chicago, Philly, California and many others, all rich with the culture of Italian immigrants and their influence of Italian cuisine. This particular recipe for Macaroni and Cheese, Maccheroni al Formaggio, Lidia says it is made the way an Italian would make it. So, it got my attention.

Macaroni and Cheese, Maccheroni a Formaggio

3 cups grated fontina
5 cups grated cheddar
4 cups milk
Kosher salt
1 pound pipette (elbow macaroni is commonly used for this dish in America, but I suggest using pipette, a pasta that looks like a bent pipe)
3-to-4- piece day-old Italian bread
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the baking dish
2 cups grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano
4 large fresh sage leaves

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss the fontina and cheddar in a large bowl. Pour the milk over the cheese, and let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour, until the cheese begins to break down and dissolve into the milk.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for pasta. Once it is boiling, pour the pipette into the water and cook until just al dente (3 or 4 minutes shy of package cooking time). Drain, and return the pasta to the pot.

Grate the bread on the coarse holes of a box grater to get about 1 1/2 cups coarse crumbs. Melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. When it is melted, stir in the bread crumbs, and toss until crisp and toasted, about 3 minutes. Scrape the crumbs into a bowl, and let cool. Butter a 15-by-10 inch baking dish, and coat the bottom and sides with a thin layer of some of the crumbs. Stir 1 cup of the grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano into the remaining crumbs.

Pour the cheese and milk into a pot set over medium-low heat, and whisk in the sage leaves. Cook until the cheese melts, about 7 to 8 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1 cup grated cheese.

Pour the cheese sauce into the pasta pot, and stir until all of the pasta is coated with the sauce. Scrape the pasta into the baking dish, and sprinklw the remaining bread crumbs with cheese over the top. Bake until browned and bubbly, about 20 minutes.

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A simple recipe but the biggest difference in this recipe, of course, is that the cheese mixture is soaked in the milk. This really intrigued me since I have always made a bechemel sauce. The cheese did in fact break and because of that I was more than a little concerned when putting everything together.

I thought to myself, "Well, this is one of Lidia's recipes that is NOT going to turn out well."

Just before popping in the overn.

I was so wrong. Instead it came out one of the creamiest if not THE creamiest Mac and Cheese I have ever prepared.

Oh how I wish you could smell this special treat.

It was rich and creamy and I will definitely prepare this recipe again. I vow now never to under estimate Lidia or maybe I should say under estimate taking an American recipe and preparing it as the Italians would as Lidia wrote.

 As Martha Stewart would say, "It's a Good Thing."

I am linking this post to Designs by Gollum, hosted by Michael Lee West at Rattlebridge Farm. To see other fabulous recipes shared click HERE.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and I welcome and always appreciate your thoughtful comments.

Carolyn