In the beginning, there was pasta
If you've read the previous entry of this series, you'll know what the basic idea here is. If you didn't, and you don't want to, basically I'm making macaroni and cheese recipes until I find my signature one. Last time we tried topping some boxed aroni with stuff I had around the house, and it only ended up okay. Today, I'm trying something a bit more ambitious.
I need to clean these tiles dude
Today's recipe is something that came to me while I was at the grocery store, chili mac. Like cheeseburger mac, except somehow trashier.
For this, I used around 12 ounces of raw macaroni noodles, around 1-and-three-fourths cups of shredded cheddar cheese, and one can of Stagg original chili.
I started with six cups of water, pouring them into the pot and adding one teaspoon of table salt, putting it on high heat and waiting for it to come to a boil, dumping in about 75% of my 16-ounce bag of macaroni and stirring occasionally to ensure it doesn't stick to the sides of the pot.
Once the pasta was done to my liking, I strained it and returned it to the pot, placing it on medium-low heat. I first added in the can of chili, and stirred until it seemed decently mixed.
Then I added about a cup of the shredded cheese, and stirred until it was mixed to make room in the pot, adding the other three-fourth cups and doing the same after.
From here, I left it on the heat, occasionally stirring until the cheese was melted, and served.
View attachment 276213
View attachment 276213
Yeah, I need a better phone to take pictures with, they always look so unappetizing in the photos..
Yeah, I need a better phone to take pictures with, they always look so unappetizing in the photos..
Let's have a taste, shall we?
The best part! Eating!
I ended up making some cornbread as a side, just from Jiffy-brand boxed corn muffin mix, which honestly did add a bit, considering this is definitely on the worse end of the aroni spectrum.
The flavors are all there, but they don't compliment each other in any way whatsoever. You mainly just taste the chili, and the textures don't really work great together in my opinion.
Eating it with cornbread gave it some depth, and the two worked together, but.. It's less work to just eat some chili and cornbread, and it'd come out about the same. A firm 3/10- I'll finish it, but I won't be enjoying it as I do.
Next time, I think I'll be trying one of my favorite form factors for aroni: Baked. Ohoho, yeah.
