Mac and cheese in Christmassy colors

November 19, 2009 • Hello. I am currently out of the country and unable to respond to comments and e-mails. Rest assured, however, that future posts have been scheduled so new recipes will go live almost everyday during my absence. I'll be back soon with lots of stories and photos. Ciao for now! ~ Connie

Fast cooking doesn’t have to be unimaginative. It doesn’t have to be plain and it doesn’t have to be colorless. My younger daughter Alex wanted pasta for dinner a few nights ago, I obliged but because I had already cooked something else, the pasta dish had to be simple and cooked fast. This was the result.

mac-cheese-xmas-colors

It’s just mac and cheese, really, but with the addition of crisp bacon, thin slices of pimiento and some sweet peas, the rather plain-colored pasta dish was transformed into something that almost looked like Christmas.

Serves three.

Ingredients:

150 to 180 g. of pasta (any shape will work)
100 to 150 g. of salty ham
1 fresh pimiento
1/3 c. of frozen sweet peas, thawed
2 tbsps. of butter
3/4 c. of cream
1/2 to 1 c. of grated Parmesan cheese (the more cheese, the thicker the sauce)
salt
pepper (I recommend white pepper so no black specks are visible)
fried crisp bacon, crumbled

Cook the pasta in boiling water. While the pasta cooks, prepare the sauce.

Dice the ham. Cut the pimiento into half, discard the stem, cut off the membranes and scrape off the seeds. Cut the pimiento into thin slices.

Heat the butter in a pan. Cook the ham until lightly browned. Add the sliced pimiento and the sweet peas. Cook for about a minute. Lower the heat, pour in the cream and add the grated cheese. Stir until the cheese melts. Season with salt and pepper.

Strain the cooked pasta. Add to the sauce in the pan and toss. Divide into individual pasta bowls and top with crumbled crisp bacon.

Sorry, no step by step photos. Can’t cook something this fast and still manage to take photos.

August 13, 2009  Print This Post   
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Comments

5 Responses to “Mac and cheese in Christmassy colors”
  1. lorie says:
    August 13, 2009 at 11:40 pm

    wow tthats amazing,im curious what type of cream do you usually put?how about the milk does it work kya? i can’t wait to try your mac n cheese…i know my kids loves this one.tnx

    Reply
  2. marlen says:
    August 14, 2009 at 10:17 am

    wow, just in time. today is the last day of my son’s quarterly test. i’ve been meaning to cook/bake something special for him as a reward for diligently studying the past few days. since mac and cheese is one of his fave food, this post just gave me an idea of what to serve him for lunch. thanks a lot, ms. connie!

    Reply
  3. Nikita says:
    August 17, 2009 at 10:18 pm

    What brand of “salty ham” do you use?

    Reply
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