Martha Stewart Macaroni And Cheese

"Aren't You Leaving Soon?" (How To Be a Great Guest)

While my husband Michael packed our suitcases in preparation for our return trip home from five wonderful vacation days in London, I gathered all of our used sheets and towels, stuffed them into a single pillowcase (as my Jewish male Martha Stewart-like husband had taught me) and carried the sack into kitchen where my friend and hostess Lisa was having breakfast before attending a class. “Do you want me to wash these?” I asked her. “Just leave them,” Lisa said. “I’ll get to them later in the week.”

“Really?” I asked, feeling guilty that I was giving her one more thing to do – especially after she, her husband Jonathan, and their young son Aidan had shared their home, their food and their toys with us for the better part of a week. When it came to fulfilling the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim – welcoming guests – our friends had done it with open hearts and an open home. They had taken time off of work to be our tour guides, given us the keys to their apartment so we could come and go as we pleased, and had even handed over their shiny new MacBookPro (without even flinching) so that we could email our kids at sleepaway camp. Theodore Herzl once said, “Build your home in such a way that a stranger may feel happy in your midst!” They had done that – and more – and so it seemed like washing a few towels was the very least we could do.

“I can’t just throw a load in?” I pressed.

“Really.” Lisa gently insisted. “And by the way, Jonathan said that you guys were the perfect guests. And you were.”

The perfect guests? Us? What an incredible compliment to receive, considering all of the things that could possibly have gone wrong (from minor irritations to major annoyances) – and considering that I, in fact, have a shaky track record as a houseguest.

Yes, it’s true. Despite my natural charm, my friendly disposition, and my unyielding humility, I haven’t always been the most thoughtful guest – for friends and family alike. As a child, I recall my failure to hide my distain whenever a host would serve something that involved onions or mushrooms. “Yuck!” I would assert. “I’m not eating that. What else do you have?” I’d ask, while my parents apologized for my behavior and shot me looks of horror and outrage. (I know this because I have those looks as part of my own parental repertoire today). As a young guest, I cared more about making sure my palate was pleased than I did about the feelings of our hosts who had put time and effort into making a meal, or about my parents’ preference not to be humiliated.

Macaroni and cheese…mid-summer comfort food. « The Custard Apples

As I sit here at the kitchen table writing this, the oven is having its wonderfully wicked way with the macaroni and cheese…cooking it to sheer hot and creamy perfection…ARGH. I love pasta. I love cheese (and butter and so on…) – so, naturally, mac and cheese is a huge winner (i’ve even been known to reach for Kraft’s ready-made stuff…which is probably a little sacrilegious and something that I should not admit to. Oh well). I’ve never actually made macaroni and cheese before, as mum does a brilliant version herself – when I was little and mum picked us up from school, inevitably, one of the first questions we asked on jumping into the car was ‘what’s for dinner?’; the answer of ‘macaroni and cheese’ always resulted in an overexcited little squeal. In my mind i’ve forever seen it as a very homely, comforting dish, not something to be ordered in a restaurant. However, the other day, a couple of friends and I went to this (relatively) new, slightly dingy, speakeasy-style American Diner in Soho, Spuntino , where we ordered the most scrumptiously creamy and rich mac and cheese. It was absolutely delicious and so unexpected. The only other mac and cheese I’ve tasted which came close to this was in a little bistro in the Dordogne (my three-year old cousin had actually ordered it off the kid’s menu and I, like many a greedy adult, decided to polish off her leftovers, wishing that I too had been able to order off the kid’s menu….)

I’m not sure where my mum’s recipe comes from, but it is a slightly elaborate version, complete with onions and bacon. I decided to opt for a bog-standard mac and cheese – bechamel sauce, lots of cheese – bish, bash and bosh.

Smitten Kitchen led me to Martha Stewart’s recipe and it did not disappoint one teensy bit. It was wonderfully easy to make (one of the beauties of a simple mac and cheese), and came out of the oven bubbling and oozing with yummy creamy cheesiness. The only variations I made to the recipe were a) I left off the breadcrumb topping (there’s enough carbohydrate in it already) and b) I used conchiglie instead of macaroni – we had some shells knocking around in the cupboard and I thought ‘why not’. It worked well and made it perhaps a little less stodgy. (I’m also becoming increasingly lax when it comes to precise measurements and tend to just throw things together with little accuracy…whether this is down to laziness/cockiness, i’m not too sure, so this recipe might be even better if followed word-for-word!

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