The Memory:
My recipes are people - not ingredients. My dad, my mom, my brother, my ex-husband, real husband, daughter, son-in-law, grand kids and others always make my recipes more than just "whip it up; put it in a pan." Baked macaroni and cheese is always my Aunt Joyce and my granddaughter Emi. Scottish eggs are my ex-husband. Pancakes and spaghetti sauce are my real husband. Yankee pot roast is my son-in-law and so on.
My oldest recipe is my Aunt Joyce. She gave my mom and me her recipe for Vermont Baked Macaroni and Cheese when I was seven years old in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She was no more my "aunt" than our landlord who kept live chickens in the basement of our city apartment building on John Street, and chopped the poor chickens' heads off in our backyard, but I loved her until the day she died when I was thirty-eight years old. Aunt Joyce and her "husband" were hard drinking; hard smoking; hard swearing folks from Craftsbury Commons, Vermont, who moved to Bridgeport trying to find a better life. When Aunt Joyce left Bridgeport and moved back to Craftsbury Commons "because no life was better than there," no street address or zip code was ever necessary for my card or letter to reach her in her village not far from the Canadian border. All I had to write on the envelope was her name, the town and end it with VT, and the mailman always found her even when they moved to a different home. Now the recipe is my granddaughter, Emi. I don't have to ask her what she'd like me to make, but I do it anyway, because no one says it sweeter than she does when she tells me "your macaroni and cheese, Grammy."
My recipe is always made with sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese, and I never buy the pre-grated kind. There is something that says home and cold yankee nights taking a block of Vermont Cabot cheese, holding it in my hand and shredding it- taking all the time I need - relaxed and in love with everyone who will taste my love every time I make it.
The Recipe:
Vermont Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Pre heat the oven to 375 degrees
1 8 oz. package elbow macaroni
1/2 cup butter (3 tbs. and 5 tbs. in different parts of the recipe.)
1/4 to 1/2 cup of finely chopped onions
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
8 oz. block sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese (grated, the sharper the more Vermont it is)
3/4 cups bread crumbs (I put 2 to 3 slices of bread slices in the food processor - pulse until it is fine.)
1/4 tsp. paprika
You might have to have some "Yankee" coursing through your veins to fully appreciate the complexity of this simple, straightforward, no nonsense dish. But I don't think so.
My recipes are people - not ingredients. My dad, my mom, my brother, my ex-husband, real husband, daughter, son-in-law, grand kids and others always make my recipes more than just "whip it up; put it in a pan." Baked macaroni and cheese is always my Aunt Joyce and my granddaughter Emi. Scottish eggs are my ex-husband. Pancakes and spaghetti sauce are my real husband. Yankee pot roast is my son-in-law and so on.
My oldest recipe is my Aunt Joyce. She gave my mom and me her recipe for Vermont Baked Macaroni and Cheese when I was seven years old in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She was no more my "aunt" than our landlord who kept live chickens in the basement of our city apartment building on John Street, and chopped the poor chickens' heads off in our backyard, but I loved her until the day she died when I was thirty-eight years old. Aunt Joyce and her "husband" were hard drinking; hard smoking; hard swearing folks from Craftsbury Commons, Vermont, who moved to Bridgeport trying to find a better life. When Aunt Joyce left Bridgeport and moved back to Craftsbury Commons "because no life was better than there," no street address or zip code was ever necessary for my card or letter to reach her in her village not far from the Canadian border. All I had to write on the envelope was her name, the town and end it with VT, and the mailman always found her even when they moved to a different home. Now the recipe is my granddaughter, Emi. I don't have to ask her what she'd like me to make, but I do it anyway, because no one says it sweeter than she does when she tells me "your macaroni and cheese, Grammy."
My recipe is always made with sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese, and I never buy the pre-grated kind. There is something that says home and cold yankee nights taking a block of Vermont Cabot cheese, holding it in my hand and shredding it- taking all the time I need - relaxed and in love with everyone who will taste my love every time I make it.
The Recipe:
Vermont Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Pre heat the oven to 375 degrees
1 8 oz. package elbow macaroni
1/2 cup butter (3 tbs. and 5 tbs. in different parts of the recipe.)
1/4 to 1/2 cup of finely chopped onions
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
8 oz. block sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese (grated, the sharper the more Vermont it is)
3/4 cups bread crumbs (I put 2 to 3 slices of bread slices in the food processor - pulse until it is fine.)
1/4 tsp. paprika
- Boil elbow macaroni for 6 minutes (it will finish cooking while baking). Drain well
- Grease casserole dish and put aside.
- In heavy sauce pan, melt 3 tbs. of butter
- Saute chopped onions until clear, but not brown
- Stir in flour and salt - let the flour taste cook off
- Very slowly add milk to the onions and butter in 2 to 3 intervals stirring constantly until it is thick
- Pour drained macaroni into the casserole dish, followed by the white sauce
- Add the grated cheese and combine until completely mixed
- In a small pan, melt the rest of the butter (5 tbs.)
- Stir in the fresh bread crumbs until golden and toasted.
- Spoon the bread crumbs over the top of the casserole
- Finish by sprinkling the paprika over the bread crumbs.
- Place in the oven and cook for 25 to 30 minutes.
You might have to have some "Yankee" coursing through your veins to fully appreciate the complexity of this simple, straightforward, no nonsense dish. But I don't think so.
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