A Cheesy Pasta With Whatever Cheese I Could Find

A Cheesy Pasta With Whatever Cheese Was Available

It’s been over a week since returning from exile after the Great Lisle Flood of 2013. My kitchen is still the focus of a lot of activity. Our dinners are large, multi-family feasts. I'm beginning to enjoy cooking for a crowd again. I forgot how much fun it is. 

Saturday we had grilled lamb chops, a pasta made out of grilled lamb steaks and some leftover sausage lasagna. Since we had a couple of vegetarians attending diner, I had to come up with an acceptable dish for them too.

Well, I surveyed the fridge and found that I had several open bags of shredded cheese, a couple of blocks of other cheese and a quart of whipping cream. Ok, I can do something with that. Here’s what I did.

1/2 stick of unsalted butter

1 medium onion, minced fine

2 cloves of garlic, minced fine

2 tbs. of flour

Smoked paprika

Trader Joe’s African smoke seasoning

1 quart of whipping cream

1 cup of milk

1 cup of shredded asiago cheese

1 cup of shredded Mexican cheese

1 cup of mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup grated provolone cheese

1 cup grated mystery cheese

1 lb. shell pasta, cooked and drained

Preparation

Note: Don’t start measuring all this stuff. I didn’t measure anything. I just guessed. Heat a large dutch oven and melt the butter. Add the onion and garlic and stir until the onions have just softened. Add the flour, the smoked paprika and the smoke seasoning and stir to mix it into the butter and onions. Cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the cream and the milk. Bring it to a simmer, stirring often. Once it is simmering, add the cheeses one at a time, stirring until each addition is melted in. Don’t ask what the mystery cheese was, I don’ know. A neighbor brought that over to have with the previous night’s dinner. I tasted it and it wasn’t bad, so I threw it in.

Once all the cheeses are melted into the sauce, add the drained pasta to the dutch oven. Taste it and adjust for salt and pepper. Stir well and place it in a 375º oven. Bake that for about twenty minutes.

Serving

Place a big pile of the pasta on the plate for the vegetarians and set it in front of them. For the rest of the neighbors, add a grilled lamb chop, some pasta with lamb and some lasagna. Place a tray of sliced vegetables on the table. Add a fruit salad. Slice the bread and open several bottles of wine. Ring the bell, dinner is served!