Making my sexy husband happy with Mac and Cheese

I can't say how grateful I am that my sexy husband enjoys good food...and that he never complains (I just found out this weekend that he's not a fan of mustard...this after I've been on a mustard kick for like a month! Poor guy.). While I'm certainly not a real food snob, I prefer meals that seem really creative (like the pasta in pear and walnut sauce I posted earlier). But I've learned a lot of people really just want the basics (like my sexy husband), so once in a while I try to hone some American classics like mac and cheese.

This time I wanted to use Mark Bittman's fast fresh pasta recipe I just found. He calls it "Fresh Pasta at Ferrari Speed," but Ferrari speed might be a bit of a stretch. It took me just under 45 min to make this dish...from start to finish (as Rachel Ray would say).

I had to triple the recipe for the pasta to make enough for the sauce (and it was still VERY saucy).

You'll need (I'm tripling it for you):

3 c flour

1 1/2 t salt

6 eggs (or maybe 5...mine was really sticky)

2 t olive oil

You can process this in the food processor....or sorta knead it together with your hands. As my food processor is slowing down, I did a little bit of both. Then I dropped small pieces of the dough into boiling water and cooked them for 2-3 minutes. I had to do it in two batches.

Then I drained the noodles and set them aside to make the sauce which I found watching "Down Home with the Neelys" on the Food Network. Once again, I don't have an oven. Ah! The pain! So I just didn't do the baking part. But...Oh man! This was the best sauce I've ever had (probably because of the mustard powder (sorry sexy husband) and the hot sauce!). Please, if you need a good stable to make your someone special happy...try this.

Macaroni and Cheese...compliments of the Neelys

6 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

4 cups milk, warm

1 teaspoon dry mustard (my sexy husband said he would have used less mustard)

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Dash salt and freshly ground black pepper

Dash hot sauce

Dash Worcestershire sauce

3 cups shredded Cheddar

1 pound cavatappi pasta, cooked al dente (of course, I used my weird looking pasta lumps)

1 cup crushed potato chips

5 slices cooked bacon, crumbled

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, for topping

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt 6 tablespoons butter in a large saucepot over medium heat. Add flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Whisk in the warmed milk and bring to a boil, continue to whisk constantly. The mixture will thicken as the heat increases. Continue to stir while adding the dry mustard, nutmeg, cayenne, salt, pepper, hot sauce and Worcestershire. Stir in the 3 cups of Cheddar until it melts.

Pour the cheese sauce over the noodles and add to a 3 quart casserole dish.

Sprinkle the chips, bacon and Parmesan on top and bake for 35 minutes.

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It's supposed to look like the picture above.

Mine looked like this:

It was perfect. My sexy husband was in bliss. He ate more than I did (that doesn't usually happen)!