Bon Appétit: Macaroni and Cheese with Leeks

A few months back I committed to cooking one recipe from each issue of Bon Appétit. Too many times I would receive the latest issue, only to glance through and spot some stuff that I swore I would make, then a few days later the magazine would be tossed into a cupboard ne’er to be found again.

Not anymore! I may be a bit behind (my last BA post was from the February issue), but with the help of Microsoft Outlook Tasks I am committed to this charge to which I have assigned myself. I finally got around to picking a recipe from the March issue this past weekend, did some much needed grocery shopping, and got into the kitchen.

The recipe I chose is called Baked Penne with Farmhouse Cheddar and Leeks, but let’s call it what it really is: Macaroni and Cheese. I love me some mac ‘n cheese, any way I can get it, and this was a slight variation from the mac that I’ve cooked the last few times. For one, the recipe uses leeks, which have been high on my veggie list as of late. The smell of leeks sautéing in butter is outrageously good. Dare I say, better than shallots in butter. Secondly, the last few times I’ve created a classic roux as the base of the cheese sauce, using butter/flour/cream as the base then adding the cheese. This recipe starts off in a similar fashion, but we incorporate egg, resulting in a texture that is somewhere between the lush, creamy roux-based version and the classic Southern mac ‘n cheese that is somewhat casserole-like.

These two differences were enough reason for me to justify making more mac ‘n cheese – it’s only for the sake of experimentation and experience, I swear!

Here are your leeks – we are only using the part between the bottom of the leaves and about 1 inch from the root. No sense in washing them until after you cut off the top and bottom.

I cut newly trimmed and washed leeks into 1/2” rounds, then cut each round in half creating a semi-circle of sorts.

Then I shredded 1/2lb of sharp white cheddar cheese in my box grater. I called it the leaning tower of cheeza. Literally, I said it out loud while I was cooking by myself. Yes, I realize how lame I am.

The recipe doesn’t call for it, but I decided to add some chopped fresh oregano. Fresh oregano imparts a much different flavor than its dried counterpart, and it’s not nearly as intense.

I didn’t add the oregano until the leeks were almost done cooking in the butter.

Then in goes the flour, whisk continuously, add the milk, add the hot sauce, then the cheese. I only had plain soy milk on-hand, so that’s what I used. I wasn’t sure how it would work, but it seemed to be just fine. The sauce was probably a bit sweeter than intended, but no biggie as far as I could tell.

The recipe doesn’t go into much detail, but this is the point at which you add the eggs. You don’t want to take an egg out of the refrigerator, beat it, and add it directly to this sauce. The egg is cold, the sauce is hot, and you end up with scrambled eggs. So what you do is called tempering. First of all, you will want to have already have your eggs out and beaten before you start the recipe to help bring them to room temperature.

Then, what you want to do is take roughly a cup of the cheese sauce, and add it bit by bit to the eggs, whisking all the while. Once you have introduced the sauce to the eggs, and you have confirmed that you don’t have scrambled eggs, you add the tempered eggs/cheese sauce to the rest of the sauce and whisk it in. Done!

Now mix your cooked pasta with the cheese sauce and pour everything into a greased baking dish. The recipe calls for penne, but I used the Cavatappi that I had on hand (via Your Dekalb Farmer’s Market).

I guess I can take some photos while I wait for this bad boy to cool.

The mac had a slightly creamy texture, but the egg structure definitely shone through without giving off too much of that egg flavor. The leeks were great, but I was glad I added the oregano to give it a slightly more complexity.

The recipe doesn’t call for any salt or pepper, so if you’re like me, be sure to hit it up generously when you eat it.

It didn’t reheat as well as some mac ‘n cheese, which perhaps is due to the egg, but it was still pretty damn good.

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