Hey, everyone!
I am so super excited today,
because we are celebrating 50,000 subscribers on YouTube.
It has been the most incredible few months
and I can't thank you guys enough
for all of your love and support for the channel.
You guys have been amazing with your liking
and sharing and commenting on the videos.
We have lots more to come, so be sure to stick around.
Today, in honor of this awesome milestone,
I'm going to share with you one of my very favorite things,
mac and cheese, but not just any mac and cheese,
mac and cheese three delicious ways.
I'm going to be sharing
my spinach and artichoke mac and cheese,
my amazing spicy chili mac and cheese,
and finally, a baked lobster mac and cheese
that will take any celebration to a whole other level.
Hold onto your hats, and onto your forks,
because it's going to be a delicious ride.
Today I'm going to start by sharing
my classic mac and cheese recipe.
It's super simple to make,
and once you get the hang of it,
you can add all sorts of delicious things
into the classic recipe.
We're starting just by cooking off some macaroni
I have a big pot of boiling water.
I'm going to add my macaroni and cook that
between 8 and 10 minutes until it's al dente.
Then I'm going to drain it in a colander
and have it standing by for when my sauce is ready.
Now, let's talk sauce.
This is a little bit of an involved process,
but I promise you, you'll only need to do it
once or twice before you get the hang of it.
I'm going to start with a small sauce pan.
To that I'm going to add 1 cup of cream,
and 1 cup of milk.
Now, we want to heat this over medium heat
just until bubbles start to break the surface.
You don't want to boil this mixture.
You just want to get it nice and warm.
In a second, larger sauce pan,
I'm going to start by melting 1/4 cup of butter.
Now, this is mac and cheese,
so this is not a place to be counting calories.
Don't sweat it.
Just put it out of your head.
So we have our 1/4 cup of butter melting.
What you want is to see it get
that nice, frothy, foamy consistency,
and that's when it's time to add your flour.
We're going to be adding 1/4 cup of flour
to our melted butter.
Now, we're going to whisk this mixture constantly
over medium heat for about 2 to 3 minutes,
until we create what's called a roux.
Now the idea of a roux is to get rid of
that really floury taste, and to create
a nice, smooth thickener.
Once your roux has reached a light brown color,
it's time to add our milk.
You want to just add it slowly.
It will start to bubble up.
Just keep stirring.
Now, we're going to turn our heat down,
and wait till our milk thickens up a little bit.
Should take about 2 or 3 minutes
to get a nice, smooth consistency.
To that we are going to add 2 cups
of shredded white cheddar.
Now I'm using a nice sharp white cheddar
for my mac and cheese.
You could totally use an orange cheddar,
or a medium cheddar if that's what you have on hand.
Pretty much any cheddar will do.
But I find in a mac and cheese,
the sharper the cheddar the better the flavor.
Once all this beautiful cheddar
is combined and melted in,
we are going to add 1/2 a cup
of grated Parmesan cheese.
This is going to give it such a beautiful bite.
I don't recommend the powdered Parmesan cheese
in this recipe.
You really want to use the fresh stuff,
because that has a ton of flavor.
We're going to stir this in really well
and then add some pepper and just a touch of salt.
You don't need a lot.
Now this is the time, if you wanted to,
where you could add a little bit of heat.
You could add a little bit of cayenne,
or some red chili flakes,
or even some saracha sauce would be delicious.
Or you can just leave it as is.
How thick and gorgeous and velvety is this sauce?
A total labor of love, worth every single second.
And there you have it.
That's mac and cheese.
What I like to do with this mac and cheese
is serve it in individual oven-safe dishes,
and then I just top it with some bread crumbs
and put it in the oven for a few minutes
until the bread crumbs get crispy,
and then you have a nice, crispy crust on top.
(upbeat music)
But we're not done yet, because this is a celebration.
We're taking this mac and cheese to a whole other level.
Now we're going to talk
spinach and artichoke mac and cheese.
What?
What I love about this
spinach and artichoke mac and cheese
is that it actually tastes like
spinach and artichoke dip that you get at restaurants.
It's so good.
So I have my mac and cheese standing by,
and I have a frying pan over medium high heat.
To that I'm going to add a little bit of butter
and some garlic.
Now I'm using about three cloves of garlic.
Some people might think that's a little strong.
If you have a date that night,
you probably could dial that back a little bit.
But we're going to go for it.
Three cloves of minced garlic.
Get that all heated up.
As soon as it's fragrant,
you can add your artichoke hearts.
Now these came out of a can.
You can also use the kind from the jar.
Both will work just as well.
Then we're going to top this with a whole lot of spinach.
We're going to put the lid on our pan,
and let the spinach wilt down,
and let all these flavors combine.
All of that garlic smells so fragrant in the house,
It's kind of crazy.
Once our spinach is all wilted,
we're just going to pour this
over our mac and cheese, mix it in,
and serve it with a little more
grated Parmesan on top.
Yeah, that's delicious.
Next up is our spicy chili mac and cheese.
Now this really couldn't be simpler.
I'm taking a classic chili recipe.
If you don't have your own classic chili recipe
there are a ton online you can choose from.
I'm going to be making some great chilis
in the next few months.
So stay tuned.
Today I'm using just a really simple
spicy chili recipe, and I'm going to ladle in
two or three scoops into my mac and cheese.
Stir these two magical things together,
with all the flavor of the chili,
and all the creamy decadence of that mac and cheese.
Top it with some sour cream
and some pickled jalapenos for even more kick.
This stuff is absolutely amazing.
I promise you, it is worth every second of effort.
Finally, we're going to wrap up
our 50,000 subscriber celebration
with some baked lobster mac and cheese.
To our classic mac and cheese recipe
we are adding some red chili flakes,
and then a whole heaping helping
of cooked lobster meat.
Now you can buy this precooked at your grocery store.
That's totally fine.
Or you can cook your lobsters yourself, if you prefer.
I like the precooked kind, because, you know,
I just don't generally enjoy
dealing with live lobsters.
Scoop it into individual oven-safe dishes.
Top it with Panco bread crumbs,
and put it in the oven for 10 minutes,
and let this all come together.
Oh, my gosh, it's so decadent.
It's so delicious.
and it is the perfect dish for a big celebration.
You can even share it with guests
if you feel so inclined.
I can't thank you enough for all your love and support
for the channel.
You guys have been absolutely incredible.
I hope you'll give these three delicious recipes a try,
and let me know how they turn out.
Be sure to tweet or Instagram me a photo
of your creations, because I love seeing
what you're doing in your kitchen.
And of course, if you haven't already,
be sure to subscribe to The Domestic Geek,
because there's lots more deliciousness
where this came from.
(upbeat music)