Amuse Bouche

Welsh Rabbit "rarebit" Souffle

Sometime dinner has to be on the very simple side.  We generally don't get home until 8:00 most nights and after the dog has been walked and the mail sorted, the cocktail poured and the jammies donned I get dinner to the table.  I cook at least 6 out of 7 nights a week.  It's my therapy, my way to relax and since I began running the school I really don't get to cook much on a daily basis at work, so on nights and weekends I flex my culinary muscles.  Generally on Saturday or Sunday I make a list of what dinner will be for the week. I thaw and marinate and make lists and on the way into work each morning I pop into Whole Foods when it is vewy vewy quiet (shhhh I'm hunting wabbits) and pick up the produce I need. Along with the stuff I make and put up in the freezer we may only get take out once every few months.  Sometimes I just need pad thai or duck choo chee made just for me.

I had no plans for dinner on Wednesday night so on my drive into work I tried to decide what I would need at the store.  I hopped out of the truck, grabbed my bags and phone and headed in.  I started plucking ingredients and I realised that when I was reading an old Saveur over tea that morning I had seen a picture of a Welsh rabbit and it must have stuck in my head or maybe it was just the freezing cold pouring rain and gray sky that made me want it. My favourite version to make is the one from the Two Fat Ladies.  Unlike many recipes it does not have any beer in it, but it does have the usual Worcestershire sauce.

Their method separates the yolks into the cheese and then whips up the whites seperately effectively making a light soufflé instead of the traditional cheese sauce poured over the toast and browned under the broiler. Once you break though the dark crust it's a very light soft soufflé inside. Heaven.  A nice green salad and a glass of wine and your world is a much happier place.

Welsh Rabbit

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups cheese: cheddar, gruyere, emmenthal, Lancashire tasty, whatever you have to hand
• worcestershire sauce, hot sauce and Coleman's dry mustard
• A few slices of hearty bread
• salt and pepper

Take a gratin dish and slice some hearty, rustic bread and toast it.  Lay this on the bottom of the dish. I like the crusts cut off for this.

Separate 4 eggs.  Into 3 of the yolks, discard the 4th, add some dry mustard powder - about 1 tsp. Coleman's is my preferred mustard powder, now add a dash or two of hot sauce, my poison is Frank's red hot and a splash or two or three or Worcestershire sauce. 

Mix this up and add some grated cheese, about 2 cups.  Good sharp cheddar is traditional, but I added a bit of gruyere that I had kicking around, I think raclette might be nice as well.  Mix this up and add some salt and pepper.

Whip the crap out of those egg whites until you get a nice stiff peak.  Hold that whisk up and if your peak stays up like Mt Fuji your good to go.

Take a bit of those whites and dump them in your cheese mixture, stir it up to lighten the mixture and then as gently as you can, fold in the rest of the whites. 

Tip this out on top of your bread and bake for 10 minutes or so in a 450F oven. 

The 420 mile Locavore or MA to ME and back in 24hrs

My Mom is now ensconced in her summer house for a month.  She and the 3 cats drove up from VA last Friday and of course as is her luck on vacation the weather has been poo.  I needed a break from the grind so Renee pushed me out the door of Create a Cook and demanded I take a few days off.  The pooper had a vet appointment Friday and her latest round of old age induced incontinence meant that husband stayed home and I hit the road for a road trip.

I called Mom Thursday morning and reported that I was hitting the road, but informed her that there would be a few stops along the way, I'd get there, I reported, when I got there.  My favourite kind of trip. A quick stop at the NH state liquor store for some wine meant that I would hit Kittery right around 11:00. 

Why does 11:00 matter you ask?  The well seasoned Maine traveler and the fried clam junkies will know that 11:00 on the dot is when Bob's clam shack opens and I, having not had fried clams a single time yet this "summer", was not going to pass on the opportunity.  Surprisingly on a gray and might i add cold July afternoon, rte 1 was dead as a doornail.  I pulled into Bob's stood second in the queue and ordered up my clams. No fries, no onion rings, no sides, just the clams please. I hopped back in the truck and opened up the $26.00 dollar of clams.  Yes TWENTY SIX DOLLARS worth of clams and this is what greeted me.

$26.00, you would shriek, for that?  Not only was it a paltry sum, but they were teeny tiny nickel sized clams that any clam aficionado would lament had ZERO bellies. Sigh.  Oh well, at least they were fried clams.  I snapped the pic above with my iphone and sent husband the picture with a note that read "I think you can guess where I am".

I pulled out of Bob's parking lot barely looking left or right since there was no traffic to speak of and headed left on route 1.  I like to meander around and up and down until around Ogunquit and then hit 95 again to head towards 295N. I saw far too many vacancy signs on the B&B path and any tourists that I did see out and about walking were wearing thick and heavy sweatshirts likely purchased at the local tourist shop.  In fact sweatshirts are probably the biggest tourist item this summer.  At least someone is making money in this cold and rain.

Around Wells I pulled in to a DD's to get some iced caffeine to keep me going for the 2 hours I still had on the road.

I veered off at 295 in Portland and swung through the bay on my way North.  My next stop, Hannaford's in Augusta.  Mom's friend Lizzie was up staying with her and they already had dinner planned so I had to stop in and pick up some extra supplies.  Of course I never, EVER leave Maine without a Whoopie pie.

This photo was snapped via the iphone and sent to husband along with a note that read..."And of course I had to buy some of these".

I had a lovely chat with a gentleman and his wife in the parking lot about the new restaurant being built on the hill in the adjacent plaza.  The one offering, "a nice view", commented the husband.  Sure, I guess if you like to watch the parking lot of Hannaford's and the Maine turnpike. Believe me in this part of town a new place to dine is BIG news.  He lamented the closing of Rustler a few years ago and informed me the place was "some Texas chain". I hopped in the truck and I took a left again and headed down some of my favourite roads to see my egg lady.  Her husband was out on his ATV in the driveway as I pulled in.  He saw me and turned off the ATV.  "Got any eggs?" I shouted.  He turned it back on and drove over to his porch and I hopped out of the truck and rambled onto his farmer's porch.  "How many?", "Two dozen please".  I took my eggs and we chatted about the weather, like you do, and I asked if he was having a hard time getting his hay in.  He said he only had 1 lot done and by now he should have 5.  I asked him what the forecast was for the next couple days and in his dry drawl he said "Rain, and then rain the next day and then some more rain, and I think rain later."  I chuckled and as I turned around to leave the porch I noticed the 2 freshly hatched kittens on the rocking chair and of course I squealed.  He said "Take one." I looked back at him and he said, 'No, really take one". I gave each kitten a scratch behind the ears and he hopped back on his ATV, "Got to go catch a cow that escaped this morning" and off he went.

I turned right and headed down to Puddledock road to head over to Ballard's my favourite local meat market. 

My buddy here is always waiting around on the other side of the door for a generous offering of bones or sometimes hot dogs. Another iphone snap I sent off to husband to keep him updated.  I picked up 5 pounds of bacon that I just finished sealing up and freezing courtesy this lovely machine.

 

Ballard's will also cold smoke anything you want!  In house that day they had house made smoked sausages and two smoked cheeses.  One was a smoked blue (4 hours in hickory smoke!) and they buy a whole Cabot cheddar wheel and sell enormous chunks of it.  I bought one plain and one smoked.  Mac & Cheese might never be the same, but right now a piece of smoked cheese and some Laphroaig is a pretty good summer evening nosh and tipple.  Especially when summer means 62F. I grabbed a few other lovely things and then headed back on the road to Mom.  I passed a few private roadside grab and pay stands that didn't have enough goodies worth stopping for.

When I got enough bars on the phone, I rang Mom to ask whether I took a right at the old church or stayed straight on to head over to the organic farm. I pulled up on the gravel drive and heard the DING DING of an old gas station air hose bell.  Instantly two barking and wagging Australian cattle dogs were at the truck door to greet me and little Sage popped her head out from the farm stand offering to take me on a farm tour.

I pulled this local yogurt out of the fridge(don't worry about the date, it's still quite lovely) while her mom came around the corner to tell me what had just been baked. 

I took her up on the blueberry pie to bring home to husband.  As I was leaving I snapped this picture and emailed it off saying "Your 3 favourite words!"

I took a left and headed off to Mom's.  On the camp road I scoped out the mushroom situation.  From the truck I could see Chanterelle and a few lobster mushroom, but I'm going to wait until I go the 1st week of August because I think just a few days of warm could make those woods pop!  I pulled down the driveway towards the lake, margaritas and some kittie love.

Thursday night the rains began in earnst.  By Friday mid-morning it was apparent that it wasn't going to let up so I packed up the truck and Mom followed me to Longfellow's to pick up a hanging plant to replace the one that drowned earlier this summer.  I tucked it safely on the floor of the passenger seat, set my iphone up as my GPS system, waved to mom who was heading to ballard's for lobster for her and SD who would arrive that night and headed off to find the Whole Foods in Portland to pick up the few items we would need around for the weekend.

 

I hit the highway around Augusta and followed this poor couple who were obviously on a road trip holiday.  the Harley itself was doing fine, but the trailer they were towing behind was hydroplaning like mad.  I followed him slowly for a few miles to stop the 18 wheelers carrying Wide Loads from riding up his ass and then passing him at 80.  Eventually he waved me on and pulled over under an overpass to wait it out.

Rte295 southbound is still closed so the North bound traffic can use it while their side is being paved.  You could see them working hard on my drive up.

The detour on that stretch of 295 takes you on a lovely 2 lane stretch of road called 201.  The road in fact passes by the dirt that Mom and SD bought last year to build on and retire to. It's close enough to be at the summer house more, yet not so far away they can't come mow the lawn and take in the mail.  Sadly the economic nose dive has put a damper on all that for now, but I told Mom I would scope out her new hood for good food finds on the way home.

My first stop was the nostalgic and soooo adorable Rocky Ridge Orchard.  I took a quick snap of the outside because I didn't want to be *that* food blogger snapping away at everything.  Of course there was already a woman inside with her video camera, *sigh*.  This little slice of perfect nostalgia has a wonderful old pie safe, 5 maybe six shelves high all covered in screen. 

I picked up husband a peach and raspberry pie.  As you can see upon my arrival home, he didn't even bother to wait for me to take a picture. He gave it his "Oh my" followed by food silence approval rating. This little gem of a place has homemade donuts, bismarks, cream horns, cider vinegar, local maple syrup, homemade rhubarb strawberry soda(!), sandwiches, crab rolls and soups set out in crock pots atop the vintage 1920's stove for self service. The creaking, slamming screen door just sealed the deal for me.  I will be back!

I pulled out, took a right and headed further south on 201.  A few miles down the road a pickup truck in front of me had his right directional on, as I slowed to wait for him to turn, I realised it was a farm stand and quickly pulled in after him.

It was the farmer making a delivery form the fields and he nodded and said hello.  His daughter came out to tend the stand and I picked up some of the finest strawberries I have smelled or tasted all year.  A container of just picked potatoes, some green beans and a zucchini polished off my order.  The sign inside the little stand said they grew everything they sold.  I asked the girl if the detour had been good for their business and she smiled and said "oh yea" with a nod. Another notch on my soon-to-return belt!

I knew that L.P. Bisson wasn't far from the farm stand so I turned right and headed for Meadow Road. I was here last year and learned all about this abattoir/butcher shop so I had to come back for more.  Ideas for dinner had been forming in my head as I was picking up items along the way. I bought a gorgeous local chicken, some pork butt for freezing, a pork tenderloin that is brining in the fridge as we speak.  A pint of unpasteurized chocolate milk for husband and I inquired about buying a roast with the skin on for crackling.  I spoke to the gentleman and he said he always keeps some pork shoulder with skin on from their pigs in the freezer.  Since my cooler was already full, I told him I'd be back in a week or so to pick that up!

I set my iphone GPS for Whole Foods in Portland, or course I had to explain no, not Oregon, Maine please, and took a right back on to 295S.  Holy cow, what a Whole Foods!  Ginormous! They have a granola bar to make your own, a macrobiotic and vegan bar, a sweet coffee bar, a rather decent beer and wine selection and parking lot CHOCK full.  I had to circle for space along with every other kayak covered, Mt. bike strapped car heading for their weekend away. One volvo in the lot was loaded nose to gill with interesting looking drum equipment made of gourds and skins and interesting things.

Back onto 295S, coffee in hand and another 2 hours ahead of me.  Everything was lovely until I hit 128S and ground to a halt around Lexington where we c-r-a-w-l-e-d until the Mass Pike exit.  When the truck was finally unloaded and a cocktail was in hand I began to cook a dinner from all the things that I gathered.  I called Mom and reported on my findings giving my seal of approval to her new neighborhood.

Can it be called Locavore or eating local when the goods came from 200 miles away? I think so but only if it involves a visit to see Mom.

Dinner

Marinated Feta

I'm starting to get ready for the forth of July up in Maine and the inevitable cocktail hours that will take place.  Besides making this fabulous recipe from Susan Loomis via David Lebovitz for salmon rilletes, I made up a batch of marinated feta.   

Really, this isn't a recipe so much as a 'what flavours do i like' tossing together of ingredients.  Never has so little effort yielded such a beautiful result. 

Art in a jar.

Now the big question at cocktail hour will be margarita or G&T with Campari and those, my friends, are the kinds of struggles I can live with.

I do have one little request though, try and find Valbreso feta.  It is a French sheep's milk feta that is smoother, creamier and less salty than most barrel cured feta and will yield a much better result.  Otherwise it's up to your imagination.

I used:
Valbreso Feta
thyme and thyme flowers
borage flowers
rosemary
marjoram
Vietnamese Coriander
Lemon Verbena
green, red, pink and szechuan peppercorns
garlic
divina hot red peppers
dried sanaam peppers
extra virgin olive oil

A little bit of heaven

The Cheese Hamlet - West Didsbury, Manchester, UK

and this market is just next door.  Now that is what I call shopping.

...more later when I get back from Maine! 

Four of the sweetest words ever heard

I was finishing up teaching the knife skills class at Cambridge on Saturday, week one of a six week series when one of the students sidled up beside me and in her very sweet French accent whispered the sweetest words I have ever heard.

"I am a cheese maker, would you like me to bring some samples next week?"

It took a few seconds for the words to register,the temptation to utter Blessed are the cheese makers to pass and for my jaw to close.

"You are?"

"Yes, I work as a cheese maker at Vermont Butter and Cheese, I spend a lot of time working with the chef and I wanted to take this series to learn some techniques."

"Yes, please, samples would be great." I stammered out while shaking my head up and down.

I'm a girl with a dedicated cheese drawer in my house, I can't pass a cheese counter without finding some new little nugget to take home, I've smuggled cheeses in from other countries and I've managed to make a few basic fresh cheeses on my own, but I relish being able to ask her some questions and maybe, just maybe find a way to go up north and see her in action.

Cheese baby, it's all about the cheese.

Currently

Smelling the final stages of my Rabbit Ragu reducing gently, around 7:00 I'll make the papardelle.
Snacking on a bit of La Tur drizzled in Balsamic and Avocado oil and a small piece of Foie Gras from D'Artagnan.
Sipping, Vodka steeped in Ceylon tea and dried fruits with orange liqueur and lime and lemon juice.
Just prodded the fire(husband calls it porkling) and added another log.
Flicking through Under the Sun - French Country Cooking - by Caroline Conran
The Lutece Cookbook by Andre Soltner
Les Halles Cookbook by the master of attitude, Anthony Bourdain

I need to find some ideas for a French themed class with my 11 - 13 year olds.
I do hope that your Sunday evening is going as well.  What are you making?

Recipes recipes everywhere and nothing to eat

My latest fetish. 
Tartufello - Tuscan Raw Milk Pecorino with Truffle.  Grate it on EVERYTHING.  Eat a thin slice with wine. Dab the scent behind my ears.  God this stuff is good.
(Marty''s Liquors, 675 Washington Street Newton, MA)

I'm afraid my To Do list is a bit long and not much cooking is happening around here lately.  It's all happening out and about.

Currently planning a Birthday party for 9 on Friday evening. Theme: Indian Dishes: Cumin-scented rice pilaf, Chicken Korma, Papadums, Tangerine Cranberry Chutney, Pineapple Raita, Mango Lassi and Mini chocolate cakes filled with Chai Cream and covered in Chai scented Chocolate Ganache.

An appetizer and ribs surprise party for a gentleman.  7 of his male compatriots will be assisting in the cooking.  Plans are still not fixed, but Rubbed Slow Cooked Ribs, Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread, Green Chili Rice Pilaf, Mini crab cakes, Pesto palmiers and a few other things are being tossed about.

In between I am trying to finish the recipes for:

The Hungry Traveler series.  Next week is Spain: Paella de Carne, Keftes de Espinaca Con Queso and Churros.  I need 3 more countries and about 9 more recipes to finish.

Deli for Dinner Series.  Next week, Spiced Chicken Roll-ups with Ranch Dressing, Tortilla Soup and Mexican Chocolate Brownies. Again, 3 more weeks, 9 more recipes needed.

Plan the early Winter curriculum for the 9-11 and 11 -13 year olds.  Current thoughts.  Comfort Foods and Making a Chef - A basic series from Stone Soup to Souffles, Saute to Sauces.

Finish my CCP exam application. (No, really, I mean it!)

Get recommendations written to convince the Commonwealth of Mass that I am worthy to teach in the private/trade school arena.

My nose has been buried in cookbooks!  Hopefully something new and delicious coming soon.

Patience all...Patience

Watermelon salad

I returned from this mornings farmer's market visit and subsequent hunting and gathering expedition flush with ideas. 

My basket was filled with some gorgeous corn for tonight that just might have a meeting with a compound butter and the grill. 

There were freshly dug yukon gold potatoes with still wet and scrubbed skins.  They will be having a meeting with the chive I picked up at the Asian vegetables stand.  My chive plants have been taking quite a beating lately with me shearing them off at least once a week so I thought I might give them a litle break for a bit.

There is a gorgeous, freshly dug bunch of red onions and some pea tendrils that will have a meeting with some sesame oil, garlic and ginger later.

But right now I needed something for lunch and the watermelon in the fridge upstairs was calling my name. 

Sadly I am the only one in the house who enjoys watermelon and I refuse to buy the already cut ones that are  wrapped in sticky plastic and are already dry and mealy. So Friday I bit the bullet and bought the smallest round one I could find in the market and popped it in the fridge to get nice and cold, just how I like it.

I sliced the melon in half and took out chunks of it to fill a container for snacking later.  Then I took a bowl and filled it with the remainder of the half to make a salad.  Now I still had half a melon left and needed to do something with it before all the juice ran on to my board. I remembered last week at work Betsy made an Italian watermelon pudding with the 11 - 13 year olds.  It was an interesting idea that tasted a bit too much like cornstarch for me, but I loved the idea of pureeing the watermelon and straining the juice. I did exactly that with half of the melon and tonight there will be either a watermelon martini or a  watermelon and campari G&T. Alcohol and watermelon, really it doesn't get any better on a hot summer afternoon.

Now on to my salad.

I took chunks of fresh watermelon and sprinkled on some sea salt, Himalayan pink of course for the colour continuity and my own amusement.  Then I tore up some of the Thai basil I bought at the farmer's market and sprinkled it over the melon and I broke off some chunks of my favourite Valbreso feta.  I squeezed on some lime juice for tartness as I can't shake my recent fetish for the Thai flavour combo of hot, sour, sweet and salty. Remind me to tell you about my Thai beef salad, I gave that all a quick stir and while it macerated I took a slice of Iggy's Francese and toasted it and then rubbed it with a half a clove of garlic and drizzled on olive oil.

That salad was summer on a plate, sweet watermelon enhanced by the sea salt and the creamy, salty feta met with pungent crisp basil flavour and a bright lime finish.  This is one salad that will be getting a few repeats in this house.

An open letter about Mac and Cheese

Dear Lesli and Phil;

First let me tell you about teaching my first class at Williams-Sonoma last night.  This was my first demo only class versus interactive cooking.  Everything went great.  I had bought everything I needed and packed it in a suitcase on wheels to 'drive' it into the mall, I had my knife roll with my favourite knives and a mini cooler with a pre marinated skirt steak and a flank steak for a swap out demo.  Everything went great.  We had a sold out crowd of 21 and I made it through without running out of things to say.  Everyone came by in the end and said thank you or asked questions.  The best was meeting Sharon who had read through A Year in Gastronomy, she also quit her hi-tech job and enrolled at CSCA in September.  How cool is that!
I'm one of those converts now who chants out that people should follow their dreams.  Getting up in the morning and really wanting to go to work or being excited about your job is just one of the best feelings.  A worse case scenario day of teaching cooking classes is still INFINITELY better than any really great day in my old job.  Hands down.

Now on to the reason for this note.  Phil I know you asked for a recipe back on Memorial weekend and Lesli, I got your voice mail last night seeking the same recipe.  Don't worry, you are not hurting my culinary feelings by requesting a recipe for Mac & Cheese.  I'm a girl with an entire drawer in her fridge that is devoted to cheese.  I can't walk into a store without scoping out the cheese counter seeking old favourites or better still, discovering some new yummy cheese that I hadn't previously known about.  I'm really pleased that Donald has decided that those boxed Mac & Cheese, even with, as you said, 'real cheese' probably aren't really all that good for you. 

Allow me to confess now;

*looks left*..*looks right*...said in a stage whisper...

'Even I break out the odd box of Annie's M&C occasionally, in fact ...*lowers voice* ...I've even eaten the frozen Stouffer's' *GASP*! Of course I doctor it up.  Annie's gets made with Fage greek yoghurt and Stouffer's gets sauteed onions and chorizo added, but still - it's all just glorified premade, sodium filled, dehydrated cheese or Velveeta (ain't nothing wrong with Velveeta) based, preservative filled convenience.

*cough*

Having now made that horrible confession I will now dispense with the Mac & Cheese recipe that I turn to when I really want the good stuff.  Mac & cheese really isn't hard to make at all, it just takes a little time.

First, you should have a nice shallow wide pan to cook it in so it gets a really wide area of the crusty topping bits.  My personal fave is the good old 9 X 11 pyrex.  It never fails me.

Second, choose the cheeses that you love.  Most times I fall on cheddar as a base, but I don't make it all cheddar because too much cheddar can make things oily and a bit stringy.  I have also used Colby for a touch of that 'authentic' yellow colour.  I've added blue cheese and creamy gorgonzola when the mood has struck.  Boursin is a nice creamy and flavourful addition.  Gruyere and/or Comte makes things all nice and stringy causing those delicious strands from plate to fork to mouth. Occasionally scraps of Gloucestershire or Cheshire might make their way in. bascially folks this is a cheese lovers free for all.

Third, the pasta.  Pick a shape that holds a good amount of cheesie goodness without offering too much in the way of pasta chewing.  Think elbows not bow ties.  Maybe ditalini if you want something little or penne if you want something big.  Stay away from those radiatore though, it makes your M&C more like jaw exercise than dining enjoyment.

Now basically in professional terms you are making a gratin based on a mother sauce of a roux with milk added which is a bechemel to which cheese is added making it a Mornay sauce (a small sauce of the bechemel) and topping it off with a gratin topping.
In layman's terms it means dumping a few things in a pan in a certain order and cooking some pasta.
pretty damn easy.

Now gather what you need first, this is called mise en place. Go ahead, just tell your other half that your going to mise en place now and see what kind of look you get.

You will need

1 stick of butter (plus a little extra for the dish)

5 or 6 slices of white bread, crusts removed like a good kid should and tear it up into 1/2 inch pieces or smaller if you like.  Don't measure it!  Just tear it up.

5 1/2 cups milk - This would be a good time to use whole milk or at the least 2% milk.  You want it to taste good right?

1/2 cup of flour

some salt - yea I said some salt.  You will need to salt your water for cooking the pasta. You will want some salt for seasoning, how much salt you want depends on the cheese you use and how salty you like your food.  I'm not going to dictate anybodys salt content.

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg.  Throw that damn spice box of grated nutmeg away, buy some whole nutmeg.  It keeps longer and tastes better.  Just grate it using a box grater on the fine edge or use a microplane (one of the world's greatest inventions). Nutmeg is always added to cream sauces.  Not because you want the sauce to taste like nutmeg, but because it enhances the flavour of the sauce.

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper - again, none of that tinned already ground stuff please.

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard.  Coleman's is quite nice.

6 - 7 cups of cheese keeping cheddar at about 2/3 to half the quantity of the cheese total.  If you are buying by weight and don't wish to grate all your cheese and then measure it in a little cup that would be about 25 - 28 ounces of cheese total.

1 pound of pasta

Now this makes a good family size batch of M&C enough for a whopping 3 quart casserole dish.  Cut it in half if you want.  No worries.  Heck, quarter it if you want.

Get the oven warming to 375.

Set large pot of water on the stove  and start it now for cooking the pasta.

Butter your dish.

Put your torn up bread in a bowl and pour 2 tablespoons of melted butter over it.  Stir it up.

Get a saucepan big enough to hold the milk, run water into the pan and pour it out (this helps to stop the milk from crusting on the bottom of the pan) and add the milk and warm it up.  Not boiling, not simmering, just take the chill off it.

In another pan that is big enough to hold all the milk, plus the cheese, put in the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter.  When the butter has melted add the flour and cook stirring 1 minute with a whisk.  Now you're making a roux.

Keep whisking, add the warmed milk in two or three additions, keep stirring.  Cook and keep whisking until it gets thick an bubbles.

Take the pan off the heat, add salt and nutmeg along with the ground pepper. Now add about 4 cups of the cheese and stir it in.

By now your pasta water should be boiling.  Salt it.  Well.  this is not the time for a pinch of salt.

Pour in the pasta, stir, cover, bring back to the boil.  Take the cover off and cook until the outside of the pasta is cooked.  The center will still be raw.  Remember it is going back in the oven for at least half an hour.  Following the pasta box instructions, stop about 5 minutes before they say you should.  Drain it and run cold water over it and drain.  This will slow the cooking down a bit.

Taste your sauce and be sure you like it.  Add more salt or pepper if you wish.  Heck, be brave and throw in some hot sauce or Worcestershire sauce.  I usually do.

Now add the pasta to the cheese sauce, stir well and dump it all in that gratin dish (the pyrex Lesli, the Pyrex).  Sprinkle the remainder of the cheesie goodness on top.  Sprinkle those buttery bread crumbs on and bung the whole thing into the oven.

Cook this for about 30 minutes or until it bubbles on the edges and looks nice and appealing through the little oven window.

Take it out and let it cool for a few minutes so you don't scorch the inside of your mouth and end up with that nasty piece of skin that.....oh never mind. 

Enjoy your M&C.