I am a sucker for comfort foods. Whenever I travel, just the thought of them makes me miss my home. My husband and I spent the latter part of last week in San Francisco and the first thing both of us wanted to eat when we arrived home was some mac 'n' cheese. Since we got home so late, we just cooked up some Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, but it wasn't hard for me to decide what to cook for dinner the next day because I was still craving it.
Over the years, I have made several variations of mac 'n' cheese in an attempt to perfect it, and my all-time favorite is this version. It was adapted from a recipe for Olive Garden Alfredo sauce and one of my favorite dishes at The Old Spaghetti Factory, Mizithra Cheese & Browned Butter. I don't use Mizithra cheese in this recipe, but what I love about the Spaghetti Factory dish is the texture the cheese adds to the noodles because it is grated on them just before serving, so that is where I got the idea to add lots of Parmesan cheese to the dish just before serving it.
Over the years, I have made several variations of mac 'n' cheese in an attempt to perfect it, and my all-time favorite is this version. It was adapted from a recipe for Olive Garden Alfredo sauce and one of my favorite dishes at The Old Spaghetti Factory, Mizithra Cheese & Browned Butter. I don't use Mizithra cheese in this recipe, but what I love about the Spaghetti Factory dish is the texture the cheese adds to the noodles because it is grated on them just before serving, so that is where I got the idea to add lots of Parmesan cheese to the dish just before serving it.
Directions
Noodles:
I use Barilla Mini Ziti noodles. These are part of Barilla's new Piccolini line and I think they are perfect for this recipe. They are larger than normal macaroni noodles, but smaller than regular ziti. I love them!
Cook the noodles according to package directions, drain, and set aside.
Sauce:
1 pint heavy cream
1 stick of butter
2 Tbsp. cream cheese
1/2-3/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra to sprinkle over finished dish.
Tip: If you would like to make this an Alfredo sauce, which, consequently tastes just like the Olive Garden version, just add 1 tsp. of garlic powder after it has simmered for a while. If you add garlic powder at the beginning, the garlic taste will not be as strong. (Thank you Alton Brown and Good Eats for teaching me this trick.)
Preparation:
In a saucepan, combine butter, heavy cream, and cream cheese. Simmer this until all is melted and mixed well. Add the Parmesan cheese. Simmer this for 15-20 minutes on low. You may wish to season with a little salt and pepper. When sauce is complete, pour over noodles, stir to coat, and plate. After plating, top generously with fresh Parmesan cheese.
Noodles:
I use Barilla Mini Ziti noodles. These are part of Barilla's new Piccolini line and I think they are perfect for this recipe. They are larger than normal macaroni noodles, but smaller than regular ziti. I love them!
Cook the noodles according to package directions, drain, and set aside.
Sauce:
1 pint heavy cream
1 stick of butter
2 Tbsp. cream cheese
1/2-3/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra to sprinkle over finished dish.
Tip: If you would like to make this an Alfredo sauce, which, consequently tastes just like the Olive Garden version, just add 1 tsp. of garlic powder after it has simmered for a while. If you add garlic powder at the beginning, the garlic taste will not be as strong. (Thank you Alton Brown and Good Eats for teaching me this trick.)
Preparation:
In a saucepan, combine butter, heavy cream, and cream cheese. Simmer this until all is melted and mixed well. Add the Parmesan cheese. Simmer this for 15-20 minutes on low. You may wish to season with a little salt and pepper. When sauce is complete, pour over noodles, stir to coat, and plate. After plating, top generously with fresh Parmesan cheese.
2 comments:
This sounds really good! I'm going to try it very soon. I'll let you know what I think.
YUM...I made this last night and loved it! Thanks for sharing the recipe! It will be in my collection from now on.
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