There are many, many things I love about Savannah. The beautiful downtown, the beaches and islands, the restaurants...it's a long list. But if I have a teensy complaint about this place, it's that we are a smidgen behind the rest of the country. By say, oh I don't know, 20 years? (Exhibit A: I saw a woman wearing stirrup pants in the grocery store the other day. I was SO TEMPTED to take a picture, but my good manners prevailed). So while the rest of America has things like Costco, nanny services, and local TV news on weekends, we putter along in a weird version of 1989.
I am therefore incredibly thankful to my out-of-town friends who, understanding my plight, keep me well supplied in whole wheat pasta, which is ridiculously hard to find here. Without it I couldn't make my weekly batch of my mother's homemade mac & cheese, a true family favorite. (If your kids have access to a microwave at school, this is a great thing to make Sunday nights and send for lunches during the week).
Cheese sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1.5 cups skim milk
2 cups of your favorite cheese, shredded (I usually use a combo of sharp cheddar and mozzarella, but will throw in any bits and pieces of cheese I might have sitting around - gouda, havarti, etc.)
Salt and pepper to taste.
Melt butter in sauce pan. Stir in flour, let it cook 1-2 minutes until flour is slightly brown. Add milk, whisking well. Cook over medium heat, whisking quickly to get out all the lumps, until thickened. Don't let it boil! Once thickened enough to cling nicely to a wooden spoon, add the cheese, whisking in until smooth and creamy. (Oops - did you have to leave it unattended for a few minutes while you intervened in some child-crisis and then it thickened so much it was more like paste than sauce? Just add a little more milk until it gets back to your desired consistency. Not that I know anything about this...). Add a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. Taste. Taste again. Taste one more time and remind yourself it's meant to be eaten on pasta, not fingers. Pour over cooked macaroni (this makes enough to nicely coat a 16oz box of macaroni).
A true story - I once left my 4 year old in the care of his babysitter and a box of Kraft mac & cheese for their dinner, the deluxe kind, no less. The next morning he sweetly requested that I never, ever, never again serve "that store-bought stuff." A food snob at age 4. Awesome.
Dinner tonight: Whatever dinner-to-go the farmer's market is selling this afternoon. Happy eating!
