The smell of melted gruyere and cheddar cheese fills the kitchen as my mother takes her masterpiece out of the oven to cool. I can see the hand-shredded cheese bubbling underneath the homemade breadcrumbs. After an agonizingly long amount of time, we can finally dig a spoon into the dish and scoop out a huge pile of melted cheese and pasta. Strings of cheese reach from the pan to our plates and cover the spoon. After hours of waiting, it is time to eat.
The only thing that could possibly beat the taste of my mom’s homemade mac and cheese is the view. My mom only makes her famous dish twice a year- Thanksgiving and in August. Each time we get to eat her mac and cheese it is while enjoying the view of the White Mountains. Nothing beats watching the snow fall over the mountains in November or hearing the river rush down the stream in August, while eating my favorite food with my family.
My mom’s famous mac and cheese includes farfalle pasta with her own special sauce that gets cooked together. Next, plenty of hand-shredded cheddar and gruyere cheese is melted on top. After baking for about an hour, my mom adds her own homemade breadcrumbs to the top for a perfect finish. After years of making mac and cheese, she has even added her own secret ingredient-nutmeg. No mac and cheese compares to hers, although the recipe is not totally original. When asked where the recipe came from, she said, “I found a recipe similar to it on the food channel and kind of changed it as time went on.” After modifying the dish for so long, the recipe has been reduced to scribbles on the back of a napkin.
While my mom says it is not her favorite meal, she says it is nice to relax and eat comfort food on vacation. Her favorite dish, however, is cajun salmon over salad. She says it is her favorite because she loves the flavor and that it is healthy. My mom loves working out and really enjoys preparing dishes that compliment her healthy lifestyle. She says even though she prefers to eat healthier, it is always nice to relax and eat comfort food. When I asked her what her mac and cheese means to her, she says, “it reminds me of family and comfort because the whole family is always together and relaxed when we share a pan of mac and cheese.” My mother always says that it is not about the food, but the surroundings and the atmosphere that makes a dish special.
To me, this dish has a very similar meaning. We have been going to New Hampshire for Thanksgiving and in the summer since as long as I can remember. Having my favorite dish makes my excitement for vacation even higher. Furthermore, having my birthday on the same week of Thanksgiving has always made it hard to make plans with friends. My mother has always sympathized with this and always tried to make my birthday a little more special by making my favorite food. She says that only making her homemade mac and cheese twice each year makes our time as a family seem all the more special. It really shows how much my mother tries to make every family occasion meaningful when she takes the time during such a busy holiday to prepare my favorite food for me.
Soon my mother’s homemade mac and cheese became a symbol of family time and showed how much we meant to each other. I was lucky enough to get a couple of containers of mac and cheese when I went away to school. Moving into college was a very big adjustment for me and my mom could tell. To make me feel more at home and make my transition easier, my mom not only made my favorite food for me, but also made enough for my roommates. This made our first night at school a little easier for me and my roommates. We could all share a homemade dish together.
Often, we never think of the value of a moment while it is happening, but something small such as a homemade dish can always bring people together. Every time we shared this meal together as a family, it was always after a long day of relaxing in the river together or skiing the slopes in New Hampshire. This is why my mother’s mac and cheese is so special to my family-because we all share it together.
My mom’s famous mac and cheese is just one example of how much she tries to make everything special and how much she cares. Regardless of the meal, it is important to spend time as a family and sharing a meal as a family brings everyone together to reflect on our days and laugh together. Even as the years go on, it is comforting to know that some things will always stay the same and I can always share my favorite meal with my family in my favorite place. As my sister and I get older, little things like my mother’s homemade dishes can remind us of home and essentially keep us together even when we are all apart. My mom’s mac and cheese is so much more than just pasta and cheese, but represents the love we have as a family and keeps us together.
Recipe
Ingredients
Kosher salt
Vegetable oil
1 pound elbow macaroni or farfalle
1 quart milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
12 ounces Gruyere, grated (4 cups)
8 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (2 cups)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 ½ cups of fresh white breadcrumbs
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375℉
- Put oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add macaroni and cook as advised on the box. Drain well.
- Heat the milk in a saucepan, but do not boil. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for two more minutes until thick and smooth.
- Turn the heat off and add the cheese (my mom uses fresh cheese that she puts into the food processor because it tastes better than cheese from a bag), 1 tablespoon of salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and stir well.
- Melt the rest of the butter, combine them with the fresh breadcrumbs, and sprinkle on top. Bake for 30-35 minutes until sauce is bubbly and cheese on top begins to brown.
