The other day I was craving mac’n’cheese but was completely out of cheddar cheese. (and the blue box doesn’t do it for me. Sorry!) There really is nothing like homemade macaroni and cheese, yet loading up four children to go buy cheese didn’t seem like a logical solution. So I pilfered through the fridge a little more until I came up on a block of unopened Parmesan.
Yum. My rosemary plant in our backyard came to mind. It’s not near as proliferate as my basil plant– as in my kids can’t hide in it- but it still produces pretty well. I sent one of the kids out back to get some rosemary (doesn’t that sound so pioneer-ish?) and set to work.
Mmmm. I may have to make this again today!
Here’s what I did:
Preheat the oven to 375.
Boil about a pound of dried pasta- whatever shape you want. Be sure to salt the water when it begins to boil. This makes a lot of difference!
Melt a half stick of butter in a sauce pan. Add 2 Tbs. of flour and whisk until a paste forms. Add 1/2 cup half and half OR evaporated milk and continue to stir until it’s all blended. Add in 1.5 cups shredded parmesan and stir until it’s melted. (If you shred the cheese yourself it tastes better, but if you use pre-shredded I won’t judge!)
Combine the pasta and cheese sauce in a baking dish. (Isn’t this a fun baking dish? Would make a great gift for a special lady!) Add in a lot of fresh rosemary- I used about three sprigs of it, chopped up. To get the rosemary off the stem, just use your thumb and pointer finger to slide it off. Bonus: your hands will smell like rosemary the rest of the day!
Bake for 20-25 minutes until bubbly. I also added panko bread crumbs the last few minutes and broiled so they would get nice and toasty.
I ate it as a main dish but you can certainly serve it as a side. Enjoy!
Are you a comfort food fan? Do you prefer homemade macaroni and cheese or the boxed kind?
I may link up here: The Grant Life
About Kelli Hays
This looks great Kelli! A fun twist on regular mac n cheese! I love it!
Ps.. Thanks for linking up to the Life of the Party! Im going to feature this in a bit!
Awww thanks Kelley! 🙂
xoxo