American Dinner

Today I hosted another Thursday night dinner, this time with an American theme! Since I was missing the deliciousness that is a good burger, I decided it was time to make burgers for Thursday night dinner.

Before everyone arrived, I opened up the baked bean and was going to just throw them in the oven, until I realized that baked beans in Austria are not quite the same as in America. I tried to fix it and give it some flavor, but really it needed barbeque sauce, which I just didn't have. They ended up kind of sweet, and ok, but what I wanted. But my appetizer turned out wonderfully! I made Mac and Cheese bites, with the leftovers turned into baked mac and cheese for dinner. They were adorable and cute and so good!

This is my much larger recipe for Mac and Cheese Bites adapted a recipe from Food & Wine:

Ingredients

1 pound elbow macaroni

3 tablespoons butter, plus more for brushing

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1-1/2 cups milk

3 packed cups of cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF. Cook the macaroni in boiling water until al dente, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and spread butter on top the parchment paper. Take 1/2 cup of parmesan and sprinkle 12-20 circles onto the baking sheets, spread out enough so that you can create small balls of your desired size. This size recipe yields 2-3 baking sheets.

3. In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour over moderate heat for 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk and cooking, constantly stirring, until boiling, about 5 minutes. Add the cheddar cheese and whisk until melted. Remove from heat and fold in the macaroni.

4. Spoon rounded balls of macaroni onto the baking sheet, packing them gently. Sprinkle the remaining Parmigiano on top.

5. Bake the Mac and Cheese Bites for about 10 minutes or until golden and sizzling. Let cool, transfer to a platter and serve.

Abe and Jane took care of the inside-out-burgers, which were filled with swiss cheese. Abby made the mushrooms and I started the caramelized onions, which she then finished. Then I baked an apple pie, which didn't quite turn out as expected, cause the pan was giant and I am not quite sure if I actually bought shortening or not, but it was still pretty yummy. Claire took care of the french fries and picked up some ketchup for us. As for the rest of the meal, everyone contributed to the making of the salad and lots of chopping for the other projects was also involved.

As always, we enjoyed the meal and each other's company, but I think I am going to take a week off next week, maybe do a smaller one, but nothing this large again for a while.