Roux-hoo it’s comfort food season! Three baked pasta recipes
The cheesiest of the casseroles from the blog archives
The days are getting shorter, there’s a smell of dusty heaters turning back on, and pumpkin-spiced everything is all over my social media – it can only mean one thing, comfort food season is here!
I know many are excited about fall soups, stews and stewps, but for me, comfort food means bubbling casserole dishes filled with cheesy noodles, of all varietals. So, here are three of my favourite cheesy, noodle-y baked dishes, deep from the depths of my blog archives.
The cheesiest mac
When it comes to mac and cheese, I’m a purist. Cheese, noodles, that’s it – no fancy toppers, no extraneous flavours and certainly no hidden vegetables. Noodles and cheese are my life’s passion, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I spent a lot of time working on a mac and cheese recipe.
It’s all about perfecting the cheesy roux. The key is to add just enough seasoning that makes the cheddar cheese the main flavour – garlic, caramelized onions or any of the like tend to overpower cheddar so by adding just a bit of ground mustard, cayenne and nutmeg you amplify the cheesiness, with the help of a generous dose of salt and pepper.
Mac and Cheese Recipe
Time: 45 minutes
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
4 cups milk
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Generous salt and pepper
4 cups pasta
2 cups cheese (Parmesan, extra old cheddar)
4 cups cheese (Parmesan, mozzarella, extra old cheddar)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Fill a large pot with water, salt water well (the water should taste like the ocean) and heat to boiling. Cook macaroni noodles until al dente. Drain and set aside.
Grate all of the cheeses and divide into two separate bowls: In one bowl there should be 2 cups of parmesan and extra old cheddar cheese mixed, in the other 4 cups of grated cheese containing parmesan, mozzarella and extra old cheddar. Set aside.
Make your cheesy roux: In a large pot, melt 1/2 cup butter over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup flour and whisk until mixture thickens and bubbles, cooking slightly.
Whisk in milk, one cup at a time, letting the sauce thicken with each cup. Then let it cook a minute more and add ground mustard, cayenne and nutmeg.
Add the 2 cups of grated parmesan and extra old cheddar cheese and whisk. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Remove from heat and add cooked macaroni. Mix béchamel fully and then add a few handfuls of grated cheese
Transfer macaroni and cheese into a casserole dish, and cover with the rest of the grated cheese.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is brown and bubbly.
The f-word spaghetti bake
I hate the word fusion – I’ve written articles about the abhorrent adjective. That said, I am a huge fan of chefs combining two different dishes. Take Portage restaurant here in St. John’s for example – I always order their Bibimbap Beef Tartare. There’s also Chef Roy Choi’s famous Kobe Beef Tacos, which I devoured in Las Vegas at Best Friend, a marriage of Korean and American cuisines.
This Shakshuka Spaghetti Bake combines two of my favourite things — brunch and pasta — to create a delicious weeknight dinner that is pretty low-effort with a big (delicious) reward. Traditional Shakshuka, the Middle Eastern egg dish, takes a long time, letting crushed tomatoes stew in a cumin-heavy mixture with onions and red pepper, but I developed this recipe for an easy weeknight supper. And I tossed in a pile of spaghetti, because why not?
Shakshuka Spaghetti Bake
Time: 45 minutes
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
10 ounces of spaghetti
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 (28-ounce) can of crushed tomatoes
1 (24-ounce) jar of tomato sauce
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne
Pinch of sugar
5-6 eggs depending on the size of your casserole dish
Salt and pepper
More crumbled feta, to garnish
Chopped parsley or cilantro, to garnish
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400F.
In a large pot, cook pasta to al dente in well-salted water. Drain, toss in some olive oil and set aside.
While the pasta is cooking, heat oil in a large deep frying pan over medium heat, then add chopped onion, garlic and red pepper. Saute until the onion is translucent and the red pepper slightly softens – around 5 minutes.
Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and spices. Stir and let simmer for 5 minutes—season with salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar to taste.
Toss cooked pasta, a cup of crumbled feta and tomato mixture in a cast-iron skillet or casserole dish and make six wells/holes/ditches that will house your eggs.
Crack eggs into the holes and season with salt and pepper.
Bake for 15 minutes until eggs are set but yolks are still runny.
Garnish with crumbled feta and chopped parsley or cilantro.
Serve immediately, with crusty bread to sop up those last bits of yolky goodness.
The caper-less casserole
Carmen’s Caper from Jean Paré’s iconic Company’s Coming: Casserole cookbook has been a favourite of mine for decades. This is the dish I used to request when visiting home while living away, and what is served on my birthday dinners. A mess of yummy comfort foods baked together in a casserole dish.
Despite trying to find the origins behind the name of the dish for about five years now (Paré took that to the grave), I love this recipe not only for its nostalgic noshability but because it also functions as a great template of layers for a solid 1950s-style pasta casserole:
Meat-Pasta-Veg-Soup-Cheese
So maybe good ol’ Jean was pulling off the caper of creating an easy weeknight dinner.
Carmen’s Caper Recipe
Carmen’s Caper
Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 lb spaghetti
1 20oz can of diced tomatoes,
1 10oz can of cream of mushroom soup
1.5 cup grated cheddar cheese
Directions:
Brown beef and onion in a frying pan. Season with salt and pepper. Stir. Transfer to a large casserole dish and cover the bottom to create the first layer.
Cook spaghetti to al dente according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
Layer cooked spaghetti over the meat mixture in the casserole dish.
Pour the tomatoes over the spaghetti.
Spoon soup over tomatoes.
Cover with grated cheddar cheese.
Bake uncovered for 30 minutes until hot and the cheese is melted. Cover halfway through cooking if the cheese starts getting dry.