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Featured Wisconsin Cheeses: BellaVitano Gold, Asiago, White Cheddar

By A Serving of Life

Cooking for two is hard.

And in the come-and-go, much-too-busy 20 and 30-something-year-old life that is ours, I don’t have time for leftovers. I also don’t have time to clean out the fridge.

When I was asked to be a part of the 30 Days 30 Ways blogging project for the second year (see last year’s entry and recipe here), I knew I had to break the rules a bit. And the best I could come up with was to put together a recipe for two instead of six or eight. Because really, that’s how I cook. So, if you’re feeding six, add in more pasta, lots more milk and cream, triple the amount of cheese. Go easy on the salt and put as much nutmeg in as you like.

Or, if you’re eating for one or two, I have the recipe for you.

This year, I selected Wisconsin BellaVitano Gold as my cheese. In 2010, I had a love affair with cheese. I worked my way through a lot of different brands and types (I even learned I don’t hate Limburger), which is something every self-proclaimed foodie from Wisconsin should probably do. However, no matter how many cheeses I sampled, I always came back to Sartori BellaVitano Gold.

It’s my very favorite cheese. Plus, it’s a smooth cheese that melts well. And who doesn’t love a good bowl of smooth and melty Wisconsin mac and cheese?

Three Cheese Mac and Cheese for Two
Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup pasta (I used Rigatoni)
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup 2% milk
1 bay leaf
5 black peppercorns
3 to 4 tablespoons butter
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup (4 ounces) Wisconsin BellaVitano Gold Cheese, shredded
1 cup (4 ounces) Wisconsin Asiago Cheese, shredded
1 cup (4 ounces) Wisconsin White Cheddar Cheese, shredded
Freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Add in pasta of choice and cook about 5-7 minutes. Remove pasta from water and drain while it’s still noticeably undercooked in the middle. Set aside.

In a small sauce pan combine cream, milk, bay leaf and peppercorns. Heat until warm (do not bring to a boil) and then set aside for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, strain peppercorns and bay leaf from the milk and cream.

In a medium-sized saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add in chopped onion and garlic and sauté for 5-7 minutes. Whisk in flour to make a rue and let cook for another 5 minutes. Slowly whisk the milk and cream into the rue to create a béchamel sauce.

Next, add cooked pasta into the béchamel sauce. Stir in BellaVitano and Asiago cheeses. Transfer macaroni and cheese into two oven-safe baking dishes. Top with White Cheddar Cheese and bake 30-40 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Let stand for 10 minutes before digging in. Serve with something else delicious.

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3 Responses to “Three Cheese Mac and Cheese for Two”

  1. Landerud says:
    February 10, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    I love this recipe! I have made a number of the recipes on your blog, and always have leftovers. This is great, but sometimes you just want a meal for dinner and not lunch, dinner, lunch and dinner. Thank you and keep the tasty recipes coming!

  2. Mandy says:
    February 20, 2011 at 4:33 pm

    Thanks for reading! Enjoy the recipe.

  3. Kelly says:
    September 9, 2012 at 7:59 pm

    What about the nutmeg and salt and pepper?

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