Five Cheese Pasta

This was a throw together meal that Rory came up with after looking through the fridge and seeing that we had a few different kinds of cheese leftover from various other meals.   It was delicious.  It's basically just white sauce with cheese in it!  Don't be freaked out though ... white sauce is EASY to make.  I'm going to teach you how!

You will need:

Pasta, whatever kind you like.  We had vermicelli in the house and used that.
1/4 cup (50g) butter

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk

1 small red onion, finely sliced 

A couple cloves of garlic, crushed

white wine (optional) It was the bottom of the bottle.  My guess would be about 1 or 2 Tablespoons
salt and pepper

We didn't measure the cheese ... we just had a bunch of bits and pieces left over so chopped them up and threw them in.  You could grate it if you wanted but it's not necessary.  You can use whatever cheese you want ...we used: 

Gruyere
Provolone

Tasty (white cheddar)

Parmesan (fresh)

Jarslberg (like swiss)

Cook your pasta.  While that's happening, make the sauce.

The trick with white sauce is to have everything ready and beside your cooking area because once you start stirring, you can't stop.  So ... once you've go everything ready, throw the onions, garlic and the butter in a pan, over medium heat and cook til onion is soft.  Add the flour and stir until it's completely mixed into the butter.  It will be kind of like a paste.  That's good.  That is how you want it.  Now, start adding the milk.  Just a little bit at a time.  Stir so that the milk mixes into the paste.  Add a bit more.  Stir.  Keep it up til you've added all the milk.  Your paste will not be so much like a paste anymore but more like a sauce.  If you are adding wine, do that too.  Cook, continuing to stir, til the sauce thickens a bit.  Add the cheese.  Stir til melted.  Season with salt and pepper.  Taste.  Adjust seasoning. 

Serve over cooked pasta and eat immediately. 

Whole Wheat Soft Pretzels w/ Cheese Sauce

When I found this recipe for whole wheat soft pretzels, I was pretty excited ! I love soft pretzels. These are pretty good. For sure they are much heavier than normal soft pretzels but that is to be expected with the whole wheat flour. They are best eaten straight away but Jono was also happy to eat them in his lunch the next day ...

I didn't change anything so I'll just copy and paste from Delicious Wisdom to whom all credit for this recipe is given !

Prep Time: About 2 Hours (mostly inactive)

Cooking Time: 15 Minutes

Yield: About 12 Pretzels


Ingredients:

1 Cup Warm Water

2 tsp of Dry Active Yeast

1 ½ Cups + 1 ¼ Cups Whole Wheat Flour

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

3/4 Tsp Sea Salt

3 Cups Water

2 Tbsp Baking Soda

Course Sea Salt

In a large bowl, stir yeast into warm water and set aside to dissolve for ten minutes. Stir in olive oil, sea salt and 1 ½ cups of flour. Once well combined, add remaining flour and knead for about 5 minutes. Place into a dry bowl, lightly cover with a kitchen towel and let rise for 1 hour.

Divide dough into 12 equal portions and roll into balls. Roll each ball into a long snake-y piece and form into pretzel shapes. (see below) Let them rise for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Bring water and baking soda to a simmer in a deep pan. Simmer pretzels in simmering water for about one minute, flipping halfway through. Place pretzels on a lightly greased baking sheet, sprinkle with sea salt, (you’re almost done now) and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden. Eat many of them warm because that's when they taste the best.

She serves her with mustard. I made cheese sauce ...

Cheese sauce is so easy to make ... You just make a white sauce and add cheese. Don't know how to make white sauce ? For one cup of white sauce ~ start with 2 TBLS butter. Melt. Slowly add 2 TBLS flour (I use whole wheat). Mix. Very slowly add 1 cup of milk. Mix til desired consistency. (you want it to thicken) Add salt and pepper. Mix. Add cheese. I used Havarti for this one. Probably 1/2 cup to 1 cup. Mix til cheese is melted. VOILA !