Mac and cheese was the first thing that came to mind. And I don’t mean the orange powder kind. I mean real baked mac and cheese made with a good béchamel sauce. Don’t worry. Just because it’s a French word doesn’t mean it’s hard to do.

Why fusilli? Well, for starters it has a lot of pun potential (Stop being fusilli and eat your dinner!) Second, it’s great at clinging to cheese and sauce so fusilli is not so silly when it comes to mac and cheese.

Spinach makes it healthy you see.

In addition to loads of cheese, cream, and fusilli pasta, I added some frozen spinach to the dish just to give it some veggie flavor and I read somewhere that if you add spinach to something it becomes immediately healthy… joking. Kind of.

Cheesy Fusilli

Yield: Makes a 9x13 pan.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound fusilli pasta
1 10 ounce bag of frozen spinach
1/2 white onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces cheddar cheese (or more!)
4 ounces low-moisture mozzarella cheese
4 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
1 Cup heavy cream
1 1/2 Cups whole milk (you could use skim or whatever if that's all you have)
1/2 Teaspoon paprika (optional)
1/4 Teaspoon cayenne (optional)
1/4 Cup bread crumbs (I used Panko, but use your fave)
Parmesan cheese, a good dusting on top before baking
Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1) Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and prep all your vegetables: chop onion, garlic, and thaw and roughly chop the spinach. When you thaw your spinach, it's always a good idea to press out some of the moisture with a few paper towels.

2) Cook the pasta according to the package.

3) For the sauce, melt your butter over medium high heat. Once it's melted add the onions and garlic. Cook until they are soft, then add your flour flour to the mix. Whisk this all together to make a roux. Cook it for a few minutes until the flour takes on a light tan color.

4) Start adding the milk to the pan slowly, whisking constantly. Work slowly and whisk out any lumps that form. This works a lot easier if your milk is warm, but you can do it with cold milk also.

5) When all your liquid is incorporated, continue to whisk over low heat. Remember, there will be some lumps in this sauce because you have onions and garlic in there.

6) Once your sauce is the consistency of a light gravy, add in the cheeses and continue to whisk until they melt. Add any spices you are using at this point.

7) In a large bowl, combine the cheese sauce with the pasta and spinach. Season with salt and pepper.

8) Lightly butter a baking dish and pour in your cheese fusilli. Coat with bread crumbs and grated Parmesan.

9) Bake this whole thing at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes until the edges are nice and crispy.

10) Let it cool for five minutes before serving.

Prepping some things

It might look like a lot of ingredients, but trust me, it’s worth it. You can substitute a lot of different kinds of cheese based on your favorites. I just used these because it was what I had in my cheese drawer!

Before I really start cooking this dish I like to get everything ready because once you start cooking the béchamel sauce you don’t want to leave its side.

Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees and getting a large pot of salted water boiling. Remember that a good ratio is 1 Tablespoon kosher salt to 1 gallon of water. You can cook your pasta according to the directions on your package once the water is boiling.

Also, chop up your onion and garlic.

The base of the sauce.

Now would also be the best time to get your spinach ready. I just thawed mine in the microwave and then gave it a very rough chop.

Give it a chop also...

And don’t forget to shred that large amount of cheese!

Could you add more? Of course.

Making the Béchamel

I decided to do something a bit different for this béchamel sauce and it worked great! I’m pretty sure that I saw this on the Food Network or something and remembered it… I just can’t remember where exactly.

Anyway, start by melting your butter over medium-high heat. Once it’s melted add your onions and garlic to the butter. Cook them for a minute or two until they are soft and then add your flour to the mix. So it’s like a standard roux except with onions and garlic mixed in. Not exactly traditional, but it works.

Keep an eye on this and continue to stir it over medium-high heat for a few minutes. It’ll get really thick and become a paste. Continue to stir it until it turns a very light tan. It should take maybe 4 or 5 minutes. You basically just want to cook the flour taste out of the flour. You don’t want to make a really dark roux.

This is the color you’re going for:

Smells like onions!

Now comes the only tricky part in this whole recipe. You need to smoothly add your milk and cream to this roux. If you add it too slowly, it’ll clump up really badly and if you add it to quickly you’ll end up with lumps.

So the trick is to first combine your milk and cream into one container. Then get your favorite whisk ready in your right hand (or left hand if that’s your style). Then just slowly pour the liquid into the pan, whisking constantly.

Once you get about half of your liquid incorporated, you can add the second half of your liquid faster – still whisking the whole time though. Then turn your heat down to low and continue to whisk.

If there are a few lumps, don’t freak out about it. Just whisk for a minute or two and most likely any large lumps will smooth out. Also remember that you have onions and garlic in there, so those will be lumps that are impossible to get rid of.

Once your sauce it thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (it’ll take a few minutes to get there), add all your cheese about 1/4 at a time. Whisk it together!

It’ll be pretty cheesy!

Don't worry. It will all fit.

But eventually it will all melt and you’ll have a perfectly wonderful sauce. If you’re using the spices, which I highly recommend, add them now.

Some heat is nice!

Combining everything

Remember that pasta you were supposed to be making? Well, don’t forget about it! Make sure you don’t overcook it or your final cheesy fusilli will be kinda mushy.

Once it’s done, drain it and set it aside.

Steamy!

Then in a large bowl, combine your pasta with your cheese sauce and your spinach. At this point, I like to taste for salt and pepper. You’ll probably need a good large pinch of salt and a good dose of fresh cracked pepper also.

This is what you’re going for:

It's honestly not bad like this!

The last important thing

Remember to lightly butter your baking dish before you add your cheesy fusilli to it. Otherwise it’ll stick pretty solidly to the sides of the dish and you’ll have a heck of a time getting it out.

But once it’s buttered, pour in all your cheesy fusilli and spread it out so it’s even. Then coat it with your bread crumbs and grated Parm cheese (use as much as you see fit).

The anticipation is killing me.

Bake this at 400 degrees for about 30-40 minutes until the edges are nice and crispy and the middle is melted and delicious.

Bam!

It’s going to be hard, but let this cool for 5 or 10 minutes before serving it up.

You'd be fusilli not to try this.

This just goes to show that if you add a delicious cheese sauce to any pasta really, it’s going to be wonderful. The recipe is pretty flexible actually. You could decrease the amount of cheese or eliminate the spinach or spices without too much problem.

In my opinion though, that’d be kinda fusilli.

- When Spanakopita Goes Wrong
- Good Dough. Bad Spinach.
- Greek Grandmothers Have It Tough

And the more subtle:
- On the Importance of Reading

Before I get too far into what went wrong, let me show what I mean when I say fail.

When I picked this recipe for the poll last week, I was pretty certain that it would be a front runner. Everybody loves a good spanakopita right?! Even the frozen variety are actually pretty tasty and not so much work.

Honestly, after skimming the ingredients and instructions for this recipe in How to Roast a Lamb, I thought I had a pretty good handle on it. I wasn’t planning on making the phyllo dough from scratch because I’m not absolutely demented. So my only real concern is that I’d never made clarified butter before or actually worked with phyllo dough, but neither of those issues turned out to be my downfall.

My first real problem was more about expectations than execution. You see, what I had in mind was a traditional spanakopita. The small, almost snack-sized pieces that are flaky and delicious! But when I started actually reading Chef Psilakis’s recipe, I realized that his recipe is something completely different. It’s closer to creamed spinach in my mind than spanakopita.

His recipe basically fills a baked phyllo shell with a creamed spinach mixture. Because you pre-bake the phyllo dough, it’s really impossible to cut the pieces. I could see how this could work for a family style dinner but I’m not really sure why it’s better than a normal spanakopita. You still have to do all the work with the phyllo dough and then you just have to mush it up when you serve the dish.

For the top of the dish, instead of having a nice crust of phyllo dough, he just bakes off a few sheets and crumbles them on top. Interesting, but not really what I was going for.

I’m telling you this because I think even if I would have executed the recipe perfectly, I’m not sure it would have met my expectations.

But of course, I didn’t execute it perfectly. Or even close.

These were my two major errors, one of them far worse than the other.

First, I didn’t do a great job on the bechamel sauce. Even though I’ve made this kind of sauce many times before, I got in a rush and ended up with a kind of lumpy sauce. Also, I used 1% milk rather than whole milk because that’s what I had. That was a mistake because the sauce didn’t get quite as thick as I would have liked. The sauce was okay, but not great.

Second, and my ultimate demise on this project, involved my inability to read the recipe. The recipe called for 2 CUPS of bechamel sauce and the directions for the sauce were on a different page. This makes total sense because he uses the sauce throughout the book.

What I didn’t realize though was that the sauce recipe on the other page made a QUART of sauce. Also known as 4 CUPS. So, when I poured all of my sauce into my spinach, I looked down and said, “Huh. That looks kind of like cream of spinach soup.” Because that’s more or less what I had made. (See above photo for evidence.)

If I would have not made this error, I think the recipe in general would have been fine. The bechamel tasted fine – it’s texture was just a bit funky. The phyllo was crunchy and delicious but not in cute little triangles. It was really my inability to actually read that caused this to be a complete failure.

So What Now? I know. I promised you all a spanakopita recipe today and instead hopefully I gave you a post worth chuckling over. But trust me. Spanakopita will not be my downfall. I will defeat it over the weekend and I will post an actual recipe with tons of hopefully lovely photos next Thursday.

As an aside: If anyone has a good spanakopita recipe… I’m, ahem… in the market. So email me or something.

I think I finally found that way!

This was a big bowl of awesome.

Betsy and I love going out for Tex-Mex and it’s a guarantee that we will get the largest queso they serve as a appetizer. We were recently in Austin, TX (home of Tex-Mex) and went out to eat at this joint called Magnolias. They had this awesome version of queso called “Mag mud.” It was a silky smooth cheese dip plus avocados, fresh salsa and black beans. The idea is that you mix everything together to form a “mud” and then devour it.

Macheesmo Mud

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

Basic Pico de Gallo
4 medium tomatoes, quartered, de-seeded, and diced
1 medium red onion, diced
1-2 jalapenos, diced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
2 limes, juice only
2-4 Tablespoons of cilantro, diced (optional)
Salt to taste

Queso Dip:
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 Cups heavy cream (You could use Half and Half or whole milk if you want to be all... healthy.)
8 ounces Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded
6-8 ounces cheddar, shredded
1 5 ounce can diced green chiles (optional)
Avocados (opt.)
Black Beans (opt.)
Salt to taste

Directions:

1) Make the pico de gallo by chopping and adding ingredients together in a bowl. Leave out the tomato seeds from the mix!

2) Melt butter in saucepan and get it bubbling over medium heat.

3) Whisk in flour and make sure it is mixed well with the butter.

4) Keep whisking it for a few minutes and it will eventually start to turn a light brown color.

5) Turn the heat down to low and slowly add about a quarter cup of cream at a time and whisk furiously while you’re adding it.

6) Add two kinds of cheeses a few handfuls at a time and combine them well.

7) Quickly heat up a can of drained beans with a few Tablespoons of butter.

8) Pour the queso in a big bowl and pile in the toppings!

I immediately proclaimed that there was NO WAY this place used processed cheese for their queso. I had absolutely no evidence to support this and, in fact, they may be the #1 purchaser of Velveeta in the country. I really have no idea. The point is that the dip was awesome and it reinvigorated my quest to master the non-processed queso dip.

Embarrassment

Have you ever been so set on something that you try 4 or 5 different failed methods only to later realize that the simplest method is, of course, the best? That happened to me with this.

I tried a few different methods and tricks and gimmicks to get normal cheese to that creamy smooth silky texture that I know and love. Of course, the easiest answer was to just make a really thick béchamel sauce. Blinded by obsession, I didn’t think about this as an answer until I researched it (via the Google).

Back up the train

Ok, but before you get to the queso dip, you need to make the pico de gallo for this dish. That’s because the pico will actually improve the longer it sits… not the case with the queso.

Pico is important.

Making the Pico

This is a really basic fresh salsa. Feel free to add other things to it to fit your fancy. Basically just dice up all the ingredients.

For the tomatoes, I like to wash out the seeds for this purpose. Then just dice them up. No need to peel them even.

Just the tomato flesh for this.

This will be some good chopping practice, but you’ll end up with a really solid pico de gallo.

Pretty good as is.

The Queso

There are lots of advantages, in my opinion, to learning how to make queso this way if you’re a fan of queso. For one, you can customize it with different cheeses and spices once you get the method down. Secondly, once the queso is made, it’s a lot sturdier than the processed variety which always forms that gross film and gets solid pretty fast.

This dip is sturdy and will maintain its dip viscosity (SCIENCE!) even at basically room temperature.

If I were just making this queso and not planning on topping with other things, I would maybe add some cayenne or hot sauce, some tomato, and maybe even a dash of Worcestershire.

Cheese sauce. Deconstructed!

Making the Queso

Ok. All you really need to make fantastic queso is a medium saucepan, a whisk, and a roux. A roux is just a mixture of flour and fat (normally equal parts) that will thicken up our liquid. The important part about a roux is you need to cook it before you add any liquid to it to cook out the flour taste and grainy texture.

Remember, a little roux goes a long way.

To start, melt your butter in your sauce and and get it bubbling over medium heat. Then whisk in your flour and make sure it is mixed well with your butter. Keep whisking it for a few minutes and it will eventually start to turn a light brown color.

Now you could let this continue to cook and form a really dark roux (which has a very nutty flavor), but we want a lighter product for this sauce. Just whisk it until your roux is a light tan color.

Important step. The most important step is to slowly add your cream to this roux. If you add it all at once, you’ll form little flour dumplings and you’ll never ever be able to un-dumpling them. Slowly add about a quarter cup of cream at a time and whisk furiously while your adding it.

Once you add about half your cream, you should have a very thick creamy sauce and then you can pour in your last cup of cream without worry. Keep whisking though! Turn your heat down to low at this point or your cream will scorch.

You should have a pretty thick sauce at that point, but if not, just let it cook for a few minutes and it will continue to thicken.

Now that you have your base, add your two kinds of cheeses a few handfuls at a time and combine them well. They should melt right into your mixture.

You should end up with a beautiful, silky sauce.

Not bad!

What about the beans?!

I wanted to make some black beans for my Macheesmo Mud to mimic the version I had in Austin. I just quickly heated up a can of drained beans with a few Tablespoons of butter to take the place of the lard that is usually used with refried beans.

When they were warm, they were ready and delicious.

Beans and butter baby.

Next just pour your queso in a big bowl and pile in your toppings! If you need help with the avocado, check out my avocado instructional.

Of course, you’ll want to just mix it all together eventually.

I have no words for how good this is.

Ok. So I’ll admit that the version I made for these photos was a tad bit runny. I don’t think I used enough roux to start the dish (I only used 1 Tablespoon of flour and butter instead of the 2 I suggest above).

But the point is that I think I finally won the debate and created an awesome queso without relying on the microwave and mysterious substances that come in cardboard containers and foil wrap.

PS. I still do love Velveeta. Don’t tell Betsy though.

The Sante Fe Burger got my attention.

Thanks Bobby!

This burger caught my eye for its combination of toppings which include:

- Roasted poblano peppers (for spice)
- A smooth cheese sauce (for cheesiness and spice)
- Blue corn tortilla chips (for texture)

Pair that with a perfect burger and a bun and you are all set.

Sante Fe Burger (Makes 4 burgers)

- 1 large poblano chile
- 1.5 pounds ground chuck (80 percent lean)
- Salt and pepper
- 4 buns
- A few handfuls of tortilla chips

Cheese sauce:
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 Cups milk
- 8 ounces Monterey Jack or Pepper Jack cheese, grated
- Salt and pepper

I ran into a problem right away with the burgers. I couldn’t find any with the fat content I wanted and I actually hate a lean burger. Call me crazy but fat is flavor. So I came up with this idea that maybe has been done before, but I thought I would give it a try. If I needed more fat in the meat, I knew an easy way to increase the fat content: butter.

A muse told me to do this.

Using my hands I mushed the butter in the ground meat until it was evenly distributed. At the end it actually kind of looked like fat, a bit uneven and kind of veiny throughout the burgers.

Shape these into about 5 to 6 ounce patties and salt and pepper liberally. Some tips on shaping burgers:

- Don’t over work them. Just shape them enough to form a patty. If you work them too much they will get tough.
- Keep the seasoning simple in most cases. If you have good meat, then there isn’t a need to do a lot to it. But at the same time, don’t be shy with the salt and pepper.
- Using your thumb, make a small indent in the middle of the burger. As the meat cooks, it will expand and fill in this dent. This is the best way to prevent dreaded flying saucer burger: very fat in the middle and skinny on the outside.

6 ounces makes a big burger.

As far as the peppers go you can roast them beforehand if you need to. Stick them over a high flame for a few minutes and then put them on a plate covered with plastic wrap. The steam will make the skin peel off perfectly.

Can't go wrong here.

Next, make the cheese sauce. You really can’t make this more than 20 or 30 minutes in advance or it will just solidify. Cheese sauce isn’t that hard to make. This is the process.

First, melt your butter in a saucepan over medium heat and when it is melted, whisk in your flour. Continue to stir it for 4-5 minutes until it starts to turn slightly tan. Second, slowly whisk in your milk, a bit at a time. If you pour all your milk in at once, you’ll end up with a lumpy sauce. Do it slowly though and it will be smooth and delicious.

Finally, stir in your cheese which should melt and make a really rich sauce. Stir in your salt and pepper and whisk for a few minutes to make sure it is thick. If it is too thin, just continue to whisk for a few minutes and it should thicken nicely.

The cheese is pre-melted!

As far as cooking the burgers go, it is pretty easy on a grill. About 5-6 minutes a side over medium-high heat and you should end up with a medium burger. Try not to press down on the burgers too much. They will cook faster, but also lose some juiciness.

I was a bit worried about the butter situation.

This is the final setup. There was also a bag of blue corn tortilla chips, but that wasn’t really photo-worthy.

The setup.

As far as putting it together, I slathered the bottom bun with cheese sauce and then added the burger, pepper, more cheese sauce, and then the chips.

Betsy seemed to like it just fine.

Sorry darling!

I really loved the cheese sauce. It brought everything together perfectly.

Damn good.

Oh. And if you were worried, the butter addition to the burger was a good one. It was really moist. I was worried about it falling apart on the grill, but it definitely didn’t. It worked better than I thought it was going to.

Next time you are grilling, give this burger a shot. Definitely a keeper!

Mr. Crunchy indeed.

Only the French could think of this amazingly rich creation: A grilled ham and cheese topped with a rich buttery cheese sauce and broiled. In fact there is even a version called the Croque Madame which has a fried egg on top. I’m sure that is yummy but it seemed like overkill to me. A 1,000 calorie sandwich – excellent. A 1,200 calorie sandwich – CRAZY.

So let’s get started. I adapted a version I saw on Ina Garten’s site. The problem is that Ina’s recipe makes enough for like 8 sandwiches. Maybe Ina can eat more than one of these, but I definitely can’t. (Joke Ina. You know I love you.) You will need:

- 8 ounces deli ham
- 2 cup (apprx.) grated Gruyere or good Swiss cheese
- 1/4 cup grated Parm
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 1 Tablespoon Flour
- 3/4 cup milk
- Sandwich or French bread
- Salt and Pepper
- Mustard (optional)
- Nutmeg? (She includes this. I didn’t because it sounded like crazy talk.

The basics.

I cut pretty thick pieces of bread and toasted them for a few minutes in the oven at 500 degrees. You want them pretty crispy. This is Mr. Crunchy. Not Mr. Schmooshy.

After the toasting, assemble the sandwich. I put mustard on mine, but Betsy doesn’t like mustard and it was good without as well. I put mustard on anything I can because I consider it the dream condiment. You want to use about 1/2 cup of your Swiss inside the sandwich. It acts as a glue.

The start of a beautiful friendship.

While I worked on my sauce, I let these bake just for a few minutes at 300 degrees just to melt the cheese inside and heat up the ham.

Now let’s talk cheese sauce or as the French call it a Bechamel sauce. First thing you need to do for this (and the hardest part) is make a Roux. Basically, it is butter and flour which cooks down a bit and thickens anything you put in it. Good stuff.

Butter in a pan.

After your Tablespoon of butter melts, slowly whisk in your flour a teaspoon at a time. It should resemble a paste and start to brown a bit. Don’t go watch a movie or anything while this is cooking, it can very easily burn. In fact, guess what. I burned mine which is why the above pot is different from the below pot. It’s like 10 cents worth of ingredients. Just do it over if you break it.

A Roux. Round two.

This Roux is almost done. Probably another thirty seconds. Then you slowly whisk in your milk. If you pour all your milk in at once, the flour will clump up and you will have milk dumplings. NOT good on a sandwich. So pour slow and you will eventually get a creamy sauce which you should let cook and bubble a bit on low heat for a few minutes. You want it to be pretty thick. Then add in all of your cheeses and salt and pepper and Nutmeg if you are being a rebel.

This will be a familiar process to you if you’ve ever made serious baked macaroni and cheese. It is almost the exact same process.

A serious cheese sauce.

Then it is as simple as spooning this amazing sauce over your sandwich and broiling it for about 5 minutes until it is brown and bubbly.

The sandwich is assembled.

This was a pretty good sandwich. It’s possible that I could make it better I think. The bread was a bit thick, but I’m being pretty critical. It was damn good. Let’s judge it on the same qualities as the first sandwich:

Cheesiness: 9. It is tough to imagine a cheesier sandwich. I won’t give it a 10 just so I have room for improvement.

Bread: 7. I think it was a good bread, but I think I cut it a bit too thick. It was also a bit soft. Something with more heft might have worked better.

Fillings: 7. The ham is a good choice. But that is really all that is in it. Not that it needs anything else. The egg might be a good addition.

Overall: 8. An absolutely fantastic, rich sandwich. Great for a Fall afternoon.

Mr. Crunchy

Got an idea for a sandwich to put on the Grilled Cheese Trials? Email it to me or leave it in a comment.