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100212 mac and cheese posterity 1 There was a time, not so long ago, that I would share every food I cooked or ate with you. This particular time I am motivated by a desire to make it identically some day in the future. 2 Mac and Cheese is hardly rocket science. But tonight I got the mix just right, and it was ethereal. Just amazing and nearly spiritual. Ok, not that. But so very comforting. 3 So I offer you tonight's late night supper. Macaroni and Cheese 1 lb (450g) small shells pasta 1 lb mild cheddar ½ lb dry salami 1 pkg French's "A La King" sauce (reads "makes 3c") 1 small Asian hot pepper 2c cream Boil pasta with 2 qt water and enough salt in a large 4qt pot. Reduce heat while sauce is being prepared. Stir sauce pkg with 1c COLD water so it actually mixes together. Add to a different 4qt large pot. Heat at medium low temperature. Cut the cheese into say 16 or so rough slices. Drop these into the sauce and heat, and try to incorporate into sauce. Use scissors to cut the hot pepper into as many bits and seeds as possible. Stir it around the sauce evenly. Grate the dry salami, or slice it into thin small bits as much as your patience allows. Add this to the cooking sauce. Stir it through. At some point, the pasta is ready and the cheese has been incorporated into the thick sauce. Turn off the heat, and add the 2c of cream, stirring to incorporate well. Drain the pasta. It may be well past "al dente" but it's fine for this job. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce, and stir to coat. Ignore the finished product for a few minutes so it can cool before serving. Notes: Sauce package: French's A La King packages are 2/$1 at your local Dollarama. Hot pepper: The pepper I used was probably a small Thai finger pepper. I dry them in a dish, rather than trying to use the bag of peppers up while they're still fresh. At Dundas and Spadina, you can buy these little hot peppers for $1 for a bag of 30 or so from a grandmotherly lady. Dry Salami: I used what I had around. Bacon is probably fine. Bacon bits, real or imaginary (or artificial) are probably fine. I just wanted some meat in it tonight. I started by grating. But then the hand grater wouldn't churn any more meat. So I just made small slices. That took so long too. So I made thicker slices after that. See? Al Dente: These started out as small shells, but by the time I got them into the sauce, they became medium shells. But I like soft overcooked pasta. Cream: I used a mixture of 18% and 10%. Again, just what I had in the fridge.

tell Dave to do this more often