RECIPES: Cheesy baked pasta with tomatoes and mushrooms

By Erica

It's time for what you've all been waiting for-- another recipe from C:A J! I adapted this recipe from one I found on Epicurious.com. It was originally in Gourmet Magazine (R.I.P.) and called for Gorgonzola cheese along with the milder Fontina. My fridge, however, only contained some of Capri's Smokey Bear, a smoked muenster style cheese, and so I used that instead. Some of the measurements in what I typed up below are only approximate, so feel free to increase amounts of cheese, garlic, spices etc. to your liking.

This dressed up mac & cheese is great for when you're having company but don't have time to prepare the day of. I made the recipe up to the baking part (Step 6) the day before and refrigerated it over night. The next day, I just popped it in the oven for 25 minutes before serving. The crowd (Kara & C.) went wild!

INGREDIENTS:
1 onion, chopped into strips
1/2 pound crimini mushrooms, chopped
1 clove garlic
Chili oil
2 tablespoons of butter
1 heaping tablespoon of flour
1 cup milk
1 large or 2 medium tomatoes
parsley
1 1/4 cup of smoked cheese (such as Capri's Smokey Bear)
1/2 pound of elbow pasta
Fresh grated parmesan cheese
Butter for garnish


INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Sautee 1 onion in chili oil until the onion begins to soften. Add the mushrooms and garlic. Cook till soft (about 10 minutes). Transfer to a large bowl.

2. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the pan. Add 1 heaping tablespoon of flour and make into a roux (low to medium heat), whisking constantly. Add one cup of milk and whisk until thick (about 3 minutes).

3. Add to mushrooms and onions. Add chopped tomato, parsley, and cheese. Mix until blended.

4. Cook pasta for 5 minutes (should still be slightly undercooked). Add to cheese mixture. Salt and pepper to taste.

5. Put in a buttered casserole dish. ** Can make to here a day ahead and refrigerated. Bring to room temp before baking **

6. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and small butter chunks. Bake uncovered at 450 for 20-25 minutes or until top begins to brown.

NOTES:
-You can substitute olive oil for chili oil, but add chili pepper flakes when seasoning if you do this so that the spice is there. You can try using other types of cheeses, too.

-The picture above includes a light salad made with fresh lettuce, tomato, French Feta cheese (also from Capri), and homemade croutons. We dressed it with some fresh lemon juice and olive oil to taste. It made a perfect side dish.

RECIPES: Frost your cupcakes with... cheese!?

By Kara and Erica

In simple terms, ganache is a frosting made of chocolate and dairy - usually cream or butter. We at C:AJ will never settle for the usual, at least not when it fails to include some sort of cheese. Luckily, we were pointed* towards the blog of a like-minded baker at the Cupcake Project, who recently published a recipe for chocolate-cheese ganache ("Chocolate Ganache with the Magic of Cheese"). Genius - or disgusting? We had to find out.

The verdict: genius. Creamy as can be, thick without being chewable, rich without precluding the possibility of seconds. Honestly, we couldn't taste the cheese... Dare us to try bleu next time?

See the end of the post for some pictures from our ganachings.

Here's the Cupcake Project's frosting recipe:

Cheesy Chocolate Ganache (Source: Cupcake Project):

Ingredients:

• 3 oz dark chocolate, loosely chopped (C:AJ used 1.5 oz baker's chocolate, 1.5 oz semisweet morsels)
• 2 oz soft cheese, cubed (C:AJ recommends "Les Freres" for a mild flavor
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 oz heavy whipping cream

(Note: C:AJ doubled this recipe to frost 6 cupcakes and 1 9" x 2" cake... we did not regret it.)

Recipe:

1. Melt the dark chocolate in a small saucepan on very low heat or in a double boiler (a double boiler reduces the risk of the chocolate burning). C:AJ would add that a fake double boiler - one small saucepan inside another, larger saucepan - does the trick.
2. Add the cheese and mix continuously until it is melted and integrated.
3. Mix in the sugar.
4. Remove from heat and quickly mix in the heavy whipping cream.
5. C:AJ suggests letting the ganache cool/settle for at least 15 minutes before frosting the cupcakes - sneaking a taste: totally permitted.

Frosting is obviously the most important part of any baked good, but just in case you're lacking something to frost, C:AJ recommends the following devil's food cake recipe for a base:

Devil's Food Cake (Source: David Lebovitz):

Ingredients:

• 9 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1½ cups cake flour (not self-rising)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• ½ cup strong coffee (or water)
• ½ cup whole or low-fat milk

Recipe:

1. Adjust the oven rack to the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter two 9" x 2" cake pans and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper. (C:AJ went with 6 cupcakes and one 9" x 2" cake, and doubled the ganache recipe above.)
3. To make the cake layers, sift together the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.
4. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, or by hand, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. (If using a standing electric mixer, stop the mixer as necessary to scrape down the sides to be sure everything is getting mixed in.)
5. Mix together the coffee and milk. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, the add the coffee and milk. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients.
6. Divide the batter into the two prepared cake pans and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

We recommend actually letting everything cool before starting to frost. Yes, the wait was excruciating (we had to leave the kitchen), but the frosting experience was so perfect... no crumbs, and not a bit of ganache went to waste.

Et voila! A brief visual documentation of our cheesy ganache experience:

Slices of Les Freres, a soft cow's milk cheese produced by Crave Brothers, purchased from the Willy St. Co-op.

Grossest step: stir cheese into melted chocolate.

Yeah, still gross. Looks a little like a turd, but bear with us. It's worth it.

Things starting to come together... Note the glossy sheen!

Delicious. And, might we add, beautiful.

*Thanks to J.M. for the tip!

To our readers:

Now that we've been traveling down Cheese Highway for a while, we've decided to put down the map and get a little adventurous: we're going to cook with cheese. Maybe your mouth watered while reading our last post about Mac and Goat Cheese, and you have some other cheesey recipes that you'd like us to try out. Or maybe you've always wondered how to cook or bake with a particular kind of cheese and want to see us take a stab at it. We'd love your suggestions, whatever they are - and let it be known that we at C:AJ will not restrict ourselves to the old standbys! Throw us your wackiest, cheesiest challenges (cheese ice cream, anyone?), and we'll see what we can do.

To suggest a recipe for us to try, email us at cheeseajourney@gmail.com.

RECIPES: Baked Macaroni and (Goat!) Cheese

By Kara

I came home from the farmers' market last weekend with an enormous chunk of aged goatsmilk cheddar, a bag full of crumbly "Celestesan" (pungently goaty parmesan-style cheese), and an irresistible suggestion from an avid cheese-sampler: macaroni and goat cheese.

The result was incredible. The aroma of browning goat cheese filled the house as the dish baked in the oven, and lingered for hours after the bulk of the "six" servings was devoured. (Two suggestions, on a social note: (1) warm any sensitive roommates; (2) exercise caution when promising to share.) The shells almost literally melted in my mouth, save for the occasional nub of grated topping.

I highly recommend the double dose of goat for true cheese-adventurers. But for the less... goat-inclined, I can also imagine using a more standard cowsmilk cheddar for the sauce, and saving a sprinkling of goat cheese, or some other crumbly and pungent favorite, for the topping. My boyfriend and I ate it with a side of cherry tomatoes and asparagus sauteed in butter, garlic, and a dash of maple syrup.

Thanks to Felix for the idea of including some favorite cheese-recipes on the blog, to our customer for the idea of introducing goat cheese to comfort food, and to my mom for my old favorite mac and cheese recipe.

BAKED MACARONI AND CHEESE

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons corn starch
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 ½ cups milk
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
8 ounces shredded cheese (about 2 cups, divided) - I recommend aged goatsmilk cheddar, with a quarter-cup of something especially flavorful for the topping!
8 ounces macaroni (about 1 ¾ cups), cooked 6 minutes and drained - Mom suggests elbows, but this time we went with medium shells

Before beginning: Heat oven, butter baking dish and grate cheese.

In a medium saucepan (seriously, not a small one), combine corn starch, salt, and pepper. Stir in milk until smooth. Add margarine or butter. Stirring constantly, bring to boil over medium-high heat and boil one minute (this concoction will expand hugely!). Remove from heat. Reserve ¼ cup cheese for topping. Stir in remaining cheese until melted. Add pasta. Turn into greased 2-quart casserole. Sprinkle with reserved cheese. Bake uncovered in 375° oven 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly (I like it to brown up on top). Makes 6 servings (theoretically).