It's a snow day today and I'm thinking that I'll use up some cheese in the freezer and frig and make macaroni and cheese. Of course, the best homemade mac 'n cheese requires homemade pasta.
I've been in a 'pasta quandary' for the past few years because my favorite pasta machine's motor gave out. I bought it way back in the late 80s when we had moved back to Massachusetts and I remember buying it at the Macy's in Framingham with money that my stepfather, Papa Gino, gave us for Christmas. It was the Pasta Express by CTC (Creative Technologies) and this was taken over by TAKKA. In any event, I found the TAKKA version on eBay ("used by my mother once and in perfect condition") to replace some of the inserts for the macaroni and ziti dies. These two machines served me well until the TAKKA motor froze a year ago.
I went looking for a perfect replacement so that we could have one in both of our kitchens. It seems they just don't sell a machine like the CTC that is reasonably priced. I found a Farberware one on eBay but was hugely disappointed and abandoned it to the cellar (soon-to-be swap shop).
I finally gave in to the high pricing and I asked for the Viante Pasta Maker sold by Williams-Sonoma for Christmas. What a disaster. After two of the plastic dies broke in the middle of extrusion, I gave up and Gerry returned it. We stopped by the Williams-Sonoma outlet in Westbrook, CT on our way home from New Jersey and bought the KitchenAid pasta attachment.
I had been skeptical - daughter Beth told me it was a snap to use but I had been reluctant to go through the dough-making process in the KitchenAid mixer. It seemed like a messy chore. Of course, Beth was right and it wasn't messy or difficult. After attaching the pasta maker, I learned that you must drop in grape-sized bits of dough for the extrusion to work. I'm not thrilled with the lack of die choices (there are only six) and I can't make angel hair, fettucini, etc. The macaroni die worked great, though, and we had a great pasta fagioli that night.
So, here's my age-old recipe for the cheese sauce. It's 1T of Wondra flour for each 1T of butter.
Place 8T of butter in a 4-quart pot or saucepan. When it has melted, gently mix in 8T Wondra or all-purpose flour. Let that bubble but not burn. Slowly add in about 2 cups milk and stir until it is thickened. If it is too thick, stir in more milk. Add four cups of cheese - one kind or a combination of many. I've added in ricotta, goat, brie, asiago, smoked gouda and any combination of leftover cheeses. Make sure you add salt and pepper to taste. Mix cheese sauce with slightly cooked (al dente) macaroni. You'll need one batch of homemade pasta, depending on your cheesiness taste.
Bake in 350 degree oven for about a half an hour until the cheese bubbles up on the side and the center is hot.
