use real butter

Recipe: mac and cheese (two ways)

We are basically following the rhythmic swing of a pendulum between snow and sun. What I’m preparing at home mimics this oscillation: salads and springy foods to soups, bakes, and comfort foods. Comfort foods like mac and cheese. Mac and cheese is like chocolate cake for me – I’m always on the prowl for the best recipe.

snowy day? make mac and cheese

Growing up, I was aware of two kinds of mac and cheese: Kraft mac and cheese and the kind that you got in school cafeterias. I can’t really endorse either one. It wasn’t until the last decade that I’ve begun to enjoy mac and cheese. That’s probably because I’ve been eating at better restaurants and they put things like lobster in their mac and cheese. I tend to prefer the creamy versions that have a baked crust of cheese and bread crumbs. And I like penne over elbow macaroni because elbow macaroni is squirrely. So when I see a recipe titled “World’s Best Mac and Cheese”, I’m eager to put it to the test.

cheddar, jack, butter, flour, salt, chipotle powder, garlic powder, whole milk

grate the cheese

two cheeses at the ready

This version of mac and cheese is based on a bechamel sauce made of butter, flour, and milk. When the sauce is hot and thickened, the cheeses are stirred in and you have your cheese sauce. It is lightly seasoned with some garlic powder and chipotle powder. I didn’t have chipotle powder, but I found some in the bulk spice section of my local Whole Foods. [I’m pretty sure I could find it at Savory Spice Shop, which I shall do in the future because I love them.] It adds a dimension of spice and smoke to the dish.

whisking the flour into the butter to make a roux

whisking in the milk

stir in the cheeses

adding chipotle and garlic powders

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: bolognese sauce

This weekend’s storm dumped 14 inches of snow on our local hill and almost as much at our house. For the first time in a long while, we were able to ski tour right out our front door, through the neighborhood, and to the trails. The snow swallowed the usual sounds and echoes, leaving the mountains extra quiet, soft, and contemplative.

it snowed all day saturday

poof balls of snow everywhere

What happened next? We lost an hour of sleep and hit the slopes the following morning along with ALL of Boulder County. I generally avoid the resorts on weekends, but we’ve been so starved for powder that it’s hard to pass up even on a Sunday morning. It was totally worth it for the powder stashes. By twilight, I realized that the time shift meant I had one less hour in the evenings than I’ve been used to. Oh, but then there is the lure of evening dinners on the deck when faces are still lit by the glow of a sun that has long dropped behind the mountains. It’s all good in my book, the book of Jen.

In anticipation of the storm (I follow the snow forecasts like a boss) and of Jeremy’s return from travel this weekend, I decided to tackle a recipe that is long on stove time and big on returns – bolognese sauce. It’s one of my favorites and sounded perfect after an afternoon of ski touring. I looked at several recipes before remembering that I had this book on Italian cooking that I bought on a lark in my last year of college (uh… 21 years ago). It’s by Marcella Hazan and her bolognese recipe looked spot on. Also, David Leite sang the praises when he made it. Word.

carrots, celery, onion, butter, white wine, diced tomatoes, salt, pepper, olive oil, milk, veal, beef, pork

small dice

carrots, onion, celery

If you’re in a rush, then this bolognese sauce is not for you… or perhaps it is. Maybe it’s just what you need. This is a time investment and the return is a deep, rich, developed flavor that comes to those who are patient enough to simmer and stir and simmer and stir and simmer, simmer, simmer. I chopped my vegetables in a small dice because I wanted them to break down in the sauce, but if you like chunkier sauce, then go for a larger dice. The recipe calls for vegetable oil, but I used olive oil instead and it worked just fine. Oh, David cautions against using cast-iron pots for the sauce because the reaction of the metal to the acidity turns the sauce an unappetizing color. He uses enameled cast-iron in his post and I used stainless steel.

sauté the onions in butter and oil

sauté the diced vegetables

add the meats (pork, veal, beef) and brown

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: fresh porcini mushroom pasta

Hey kids, it’s August. You know what that means, don’t you? It means we’re that much closer to winter. I admit that I’ve had moments lately when I lapse into memories of gliding through soft champagne snow. I’m excited. July is the hump for me and now we’re on our way to winter. That’s not to say that I’m done with summer. Truth is, I’ve been enjoying the hell out of summer.

cloud front overhead

mammata sunset

double whammy bloom: red cereus and night-blooming cereus!

a hungry marmot, mowing down the plants

jeremy identifies distant peaks we’ve climbed on south arapaho peak’s mountain dial

I’ve spent nearly every day outside in the mountains – hiking, trail running, and… foraging. Yes, I am a little obsessed with finding porcinis (boletus edulis). It’s not just the finding that I love, but feeling like I am really getting to know these mountains. I mostly nab a few to give to my friend and foraging mentor, Wendy, because I don’t want to deal with drying them as I have enough going on over here as it is. Oddly enough, she’s more than happy to take them off my hands, so we are in essence a match made in heaven!

lovely little porcinis for my friend

i saved a few for dinner

Wendy always asks me, “Are you sure you don’t want any? Just take some!” and I always said no, until one day I hauled enough that I could siphon off a few of the bouchons – the smaller, pristine (i.e. not wormy), champagne cork-shaped porcinis. They are the cutest things ever. Wendy was thrilled and called me a dork for even asking if it was okay. I was inspired to make a recipe she described on her Facebook page because it sounded so perfectly delectable.

fresh pasta, white wine, butter, cream, lemon, garlic, parsley, and porcinis

slice the porcinis

lovely, perfect

**Jump for more butter**