Macaroni and cheese is the ultimate comfort food for me. I love it. I absolutely love it. Not the cheap blue-box kind, but the hearty homemade baked kind. Usually a good baked macaroni and cheese calls for a cheese sauce made from a white sauce roux (butter, flour, milk). This recipe that Brown Eyed Baker came up with for the 30 Days 30 Ways Macaroni and Cheese takes an easier route using evaporated milk.It’s so easy and creamy and delicious. I took her basic recipe and added Kielbasa sausage and bread crumbs to it. The day we moved to Ohio, some of our neighbors were moving out. We bought their washer and dryer and they also gave us a bunch of food from their fridge that they couldn’t take with them. Surprisingly there was a whole pre-cooked Kielbasa sausage in there, so I put it to good use.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
- 1 TBSP. butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 eggs, beat
- 1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
- black pepper to taste
- a little bit of onion powder to taste, only if needed
- 1 1/2 C. (6 oz.) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/2 C. (2 oz.) shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
- 1/2 C. (1 oz.) grated Parmesan Cheese
- 1 pre-cooked Kielbasa sausage, sliced
- 1/2 C. panko bread crumbs
- 1 to 2 TBSP butter
Directions:
1. Preheat oven o 475 F. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the macaroni for about 6 minutes. It will be a little bit al dente. Drain the pasta.
2. Meanwhile, heat a small skillet over medium heat and melt butter. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove the garlic and put in a 2 quart casserole dish. Add the macaroni to the dish and stir to combine.
3. Add the evaporated milk to the dish and stir around again. Add the beat eggs, cayenne, pepper, salt, cheeses, and sausage. Mix well. Spread the macaroni mixture out evenly in the dish.
4. In a small bowl, melt the butter and mix with the panko crumbs. Sprinkle crumbs over the top of the dish. Bake until the sauce bubbles at the edges, about 12 minutes. Let rest for about 10 minutes before serving.
Recipe adapted from 30 Days 30 Ways Macaroni and Cheese
Oh my goodness! I have just been watching "Lydia's Italy" on the Create channel, and she made this same dish! I told Ben that I'm going to throw my diet out the window if I see one more delicious mac and cheese recipe, then I opened your Edible Experiment email! Help me Ronda!
Yum yum yum! What a good idea to add kielbasa. I will have to try this one. Jacob's favorite meal is mac and cheese (sadly the blue box kind . . . ) but I would prefer this kind if I'm making it for the whole fam.