There’s nothing like a big dish of mac and cheese to bring one comfort. Over the years we’ve seen and enjoyed a variety of add-ins to the humble dish – from bacon to lobster to chorizo to the burnt ends of brisket. However, I had never had shrimp mac and cheese and decided that needed to be remedied.
I Googled it and then studied several recipes that appeared, landing on one that appealed to me and received good reviews. And now’s as good a time as any to mention this. When making mac and cheese, while it may be tempting to buy the packages of preshredded cheese at the grocery store, please don’t. These are packaged with anti-clumping agents that don’t melt well and can sometimes result in a grainy taste. Your cheese sauce will be so much better – and so much creamier – if you buy the cheese and shred it yourself. I typically use a box grater, but on occasion have been known to use my food processor also.
This is a good basic recipe for mac and cheese and is basically a blank slate in which you may add anything you’d like. As I read the reviews, some people added bacon, some added bacon and chicken, one added scallops and another added lobster.
More and more when I cook, I’m learning to reserve some of my pasta water before draining it, regardless of what I’m making. The starch in it can help make your sauce creamier. For example, when I got to the part where I was toasting the spices in butter and then adding the flour, I added some of my pasta water – approximately ⅓ cup – before adding the flour. I found that it made whisking in the flour a little easier.
As you can see, and as I’ve written here many times before, a recipe is just the starting point. You know what you and your family like so you may adjust it, tweak it, add ingredients or subtract ingredients until it’s the perfect fit for you. I most definitely recommend that you try this. It came together easily and can be dressed up with a variety of sides for a fancy dinner. Or, you can do what we did and just pile it in a bowl on a Wednesday night to enjoy as you begin Season 2 of “The Old Man.”
“All I want … is mac and cheese.”
– Kurt Cobain “The smell of shrimp is comforting.” – Lennon Parham
