Not your everyday 'Kraft' Macaroni & Cheese...

Night number two of my cooking challenge for the week: only cooking dinners that are baked in my Le Crueset soup bowls or our ramekins.

Last night was quite a busy night in the kitchen...who knew Mac N' Cheese could be so much work to make? Therefore, I was way too tired to write about my dinner, and I'm doing it this morning instead! Dinner last night was....dun dun dun...Buffalo-Chicken Macaroni and Cheese. I saw the recipe in the Food Network magaize (best magazine ever, by the way). Here's the recipe:

Buffalo-Chicken Macaroni and Cheese

Courtesy Food Network Magazine

Prep Time:

30 min

Cook Time:

45 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the dish
• Kosher salt
• 1 pound elbow macaroni
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup hot sauce (preferably Frank's)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 2 1/2 cups half-and-half
• 1 pound yellow sharp cheddar cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 3 1/2 cups)
• 8 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 7 minutes. Drain.

Meanwhile, melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken and garlic and cook 2 minutes, then add 1/2 cup hot sauce and simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 more minute.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour and mustard with a wooden spoon until smooth. Whisk in the half-and-half, then add the remaining 1/4 cup hot sauce and stir until thick, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the cheddar and pepper jack cheeses, then whisk in the sour cream until smooth.

Spread half of the macaroni in the prepared baking dish, then top with the chicken mixture and the remaining macaroni. Pour the cheese sauce evenly on top.

Put the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl and microwave until melted. Stir in the panko, blue cheese and parsley. Sprinkle over the macaroni and bake until bubbly, 30 to 40 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

I actually followed this recipe pretty closely, the only major difference was that I split it in half, since I was only cooking for my husband and I. Here's how I did it:

Oh - just remembered another change I made. Instead of buying an entire rotisserie chicken (that the recipe calls for), I simply cooked one chicken breast in a non-stick pan, in a little olive oil and salt & pepper. Once it was cooked to a temperature of 160 degrees on a meat thermometer I removed it from the pan and cut it down the middle to make sure it was indeed cooked all the way through.

Time to start cooking the pasta! I only used 1/2 of a lb of elbow macaroni. While the pasta was cooking I shredded the chicken breast with a fork.

I then finely chopped 1/4 of a large white onion, and one stalk of celery. I added that to a pan with about 1 1/2 tbsp of butter. I let it cook for 5 minutes.

Time to add the minced garlic clove, and the shredded chicken. I let this cook for 2 minutes and then added 1/4 cup Franks Red Hot sauce, letting it simmer for about a minute.

At this point I still had a lot of cook and my chicken mixture was finished....which I wish it wasn't! I guess it could be cooked a little later in the game, while the cheese sauce cooks. I just put it on low while I finished up other things.

Time to make the delicious (almost fondue-like) cheese sauce! I melted one tbsp of butter in a saucepan, then I added the flour and dry mustard. Then I whisked in the half-and-half, then the remaining 18 cup of hot sauce. By now it would be ideal to have the cheese shredded (since it is a ton and a half of cheese), but unfortunately I did not until this point! So after it's shredded, whisk in the cheese, followed by the sour cream, until smooth. Oh - and time to preheat the oven at 350 degrees!

Here is where I started to get a bit flustered, so my picture taking was put on hold. I ended up making three servings because it made so much! I placed the bowls on a sheet pan covered in foil (because I could tell things could be messy). I melted some butter in the microwave and added it to my soup bowls, rolling it around the coat the bottoms and the sides. I filled the bowls the following way: 1/2 of the pasta, chicken mixture, the other 1/2 of the pasta, and then topped it with the cheese sauce (which I had a LOT of! It worked out well though because I was able to give my husband a little sneak preview - a pieces of baguette dipped in it! - the rest I poured in to our liquid measuring cup and set it in the microwave to be warmed up late - just incase we wanted some extra cheese on our mac n' CHEESE). Next I melted 1 tbsp butter in the microwave in a glass bowl, then added 1/2 cup panko, 1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley, and then 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese. I added this to the top of the macaroni bowls!

YUMMY! I stuck these in the oven for about 22 minutes. Here's how they looked when they were done:

I let them cool for about 10 minutes and VOILA! My husband and I both loved them VERY much! The only thing I will probably do differently next time is add more blue cheese. Ron and I really love the combination of hot chicken wings and blue cheese so I'm thinking I might put some of the blue cheese crumbles in with the chicken mixture also!