The St. Patrick's Day Burgers from Burb! Where Food Happens were on our menu for the week & they are topped with the whiskey caramelized onions. Then it hit me, "oh, those whiskey onions would be good in mac & cheese too!" Matt had picked up some smoked mozzarella to go on our pizza & we both realized that smokey flavor would be great with the whiskey. Thus, this dish was born.
The whiskey & smoke flavors were actually both pretty subtle. The whiskey aroma was definitely there in the onions & every now & then you got a nice little bite of its flavor in the pasta. Next time I would look for a smokier cheese as the one we bought was a little wimpy. Maybe we should try smoking our own?! Still this was a great batch of mac & cheese, actually Matt especially thought it was fabulous
Whiskey & Smoke Mac & Cheese
The alcohol gets cooked out of the whiskey & the flavors are subtle so this is still a mac & cheese you could serve to your kids.
Batch of Whiskey Onions from Burb! Where Food Happens
1 lb pasta, we use rotini but elbow or small penne would work too
1 T unsalted butter
2 T all-purpose flour
1 c milk
1/2 c heavy cream
5 oz smoked mozzarella, chopped
4 oz white cheddar, chopped
1 t spicy brown mustard
salt & pepper
Caramelize the onions according to the recipe. They'll take you about 45 - 60 minutes. You should end up with about 1/2 c onions.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Cook the pasta according to directions. Drain & set aside.
In a large saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour. Stir while cooking for 1 minute, do not let brown. Slowly whisk in the milk & cream. Continue whisking until the sauce is hot, smooth & slightly thicken. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the cheese & mustard. Stir until the cheese is melted.
Mix the cheese sauce, pasta & onions together. Make sure to mix well so the onions are not in one big clump.
Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown on top.
6 servings. (If you are being healthy with your serving size though Matt & I ate half a batch for dinner last night.)
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15 comments:
I am totally drooling. First -- because those onions were so good I wanted to eat the whole batch straight out of the pan (but Peef stopped me). And second -- because this concept sounds absolutely amazing. What's better than mac & cheese? Mac & cheese with whiskey braised onions. *slurp*
What an awesome twist to one of my fav dishes! I bet it was delicious. On my to do list now!
oh hello! whiskey onions, yes please. double batch and let em sit overnight please. love it.
That is amazing! Definitely going on the menu at our house.
Any recipe that starts with Whiskey has my full attention. This sounds like the ultimate comfort food!
I need to try this! Those whiskey onions will be going into my recipe rotation immediatley!
OMG what a great idea. The perfect twist on the perfect dish. We'll be trying this very soon!
Whiskey? Yes, indeedy!
Y'know, the hubs would love this Manly Mac 'n' Cheese!
I love that I can readily find once-exotic ingredients here in Manila, but the ones that I took for granted back in the US - sharp cheddar & other cheeses, heavy cream, milk, WHISKEY! - are now the *exotic* or *pricey* ingredients. So a lovely simple comfort food for Mac 'n' Cheese becomes quite the treat. This version is well worth the extra effort to find the makings, though! 8-D
oh yeah-this looks fantastic! Whiskey onions? Smoked cheese? All over it!
so does it make me more manly than the average gal to crave this more than any other mac and cheese? :)
I'm in the process of cooking my whisky onions for this - I am using smoked cheddar and some smoked bacon to bump up the smokeyness.
Whisky and smoke. Gotta try this!
AMAZING! Even my picky eater ate this! I used a combination of Smoked Gouda, Bacon Cheddar, & Smoked Brick from the Cheeseman Store. (It's local to me, but I think she'll ship, too.) It came out nice & cheesy!
http://cheesemanstorecom.food.officelive.com/default.aspx
This is as good as mac & cheese get...YUM!!
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