Recipes Discovered

Macaroni and Cheese with Tomatoes Recipe

A few years ago, my mom made macaroni and cheese with tomatoes in it and to me, it tasted just like pizza. Not too long ago, I asked her for the recipe, but she had no idea what recipe I was talking about. After a lot of searching, I found two recipes that I combined together to replicate that macaroni and cheese that tasted like pizza.

First, I cooked a pound of macaroni (4 cups uncooked) until the noodles were just soft. Since it bakes in the oven, the noodles shouldn’t be cooked completely or they would fall apart. After I drained the noodles, I returned them to the pot and let them cool while I made the cheese sauce. >>

For the cheese sauce, I melted a stick of butter over medium low heat and then added a half cup of flour, plus two extra tablespoons. The extra flour was to compensate for the juice in the tomatoes. The amount of milk could also be reduced by 3/4 of a cup, but I wanted a creamier macaroni so I just increased the amount of flour instead. I cooked the flour for a minute or two and then slowly mixed in about a cup of the milk. After I got all the lumps out, I slowly added the remaining milk and cooked until it was thick and hot. I didn’t heat the milk before adding it, so it took closer to 10 minutes for the sauce to thicken. For the cheese, I added a mixture of shredded extra sharp cheddar and shredded monterey jack. I added it a handful at a time and stirred until it all melted. Then I seasoned the sauce with parsley, garlic powder, oregano, and basil (I was out of Italian Seasoning). I didn’t add any salt or pepper.

To the large pot of cooked noodles, I added 4 or 5 cups of fresh tomatoes that I had peeled, chopped, and cooked for a couple minutes (to mimic stewed tomatoes). Then I poured the cheese sauce over the noodles and mixed everything together. It was fairly soupy at this point. I filled a greased 13×9 glass baking dish and still had leftover macaroni that I put into a small 1 quart baking dish. To top the macaroni, I mixed bread crumbs with melted butter and sprinkled them on top. I started baking the macaroni at 375 degrees, but turned it down to 350 degrees because the top was browning too quickly. The macaroni baked about 35 minutes before turning golden brown and bubbly. Since we were taking it to a picnic, I put the whole dish into a Pyrex Insulated Carrier. However, if I was going to serve the macaroni for dinner, I would have let it rest for 5 or 10 minutes to give the cheese a change to set up.

I was really pleased how the macaroni and cheese turned out. It tasted like I remember from how many years ago – just like pizza! I don’t know why. I’m guessing the combination of cheese and tomatoes give that illusion, but I love the taste. It also wasn’t too cheesy or too dried out – it was a nice balance. The bread crumbs on top were a nice finish that made the dish look fancier. It was definitely a crowed pleaser – I’m glad we have the extra dish for some leftovers!