I still remember the BOXES of MACARONI & CHEESE by KRAFT DINNER we had as kids growing up in Montreal ! You boiled the dry pasta in water then strained it, then you added the milk and butter and the packet of processed cheese powder, mixed and served. This was a treat for us. It’s actually considered a national dish and Canadians consume about one quarter of the 7 million boxes sold around the world each week … Aaah the memories !

Of course, homemade macaroni & cheese dinners, whether stovetop or oven-baked casseroles have evolved to include a variety of additions whether vegetables and/or meats and fancier cheeses (see last year’s beefy macaroni & cheese casserole recipe here).

BLUE CHEESES ! My latest obsession, even though I’ve used it in a recipe in the past and with walnuts again but as an appetizer (see the recipe here). There are actually over 50 varieties of blue cheeses around the world, the most popular and well-known European versions are ROQUEFORT from France (which also produces another 18 varieties), STILTON from the United Kingdom, GORGONZOLA from Italy, CABRALES from Spain, DANABLU from Denmark, CAMBOZOLA from Germany, BLEUCHATEL from Switzerland and more varieties exist overseas too, especially in Canada which produces 16 varieties and 1 cheese from Tunisia too.

This is still a creamy, cheesy, oven-baked casserole version of macaroni & cheese but it has more ‘bite’ because of that particular blue cheese characteristic taste and with a crunchy topping of breadcrumbs (mixed with melted butter so that they don’t burn), chopped walnuts and of course more cheese on top to develop a nice crust. 

To make it particularly creamy, the ratio of the combined cheese, milk and cream sauce and the final toppings should at least and minimally be double or 200% (but around 2 ½ times or 250% is even better) to the amount or weight of the cooked pasta (which increases in weight a bit over two and a half times, when boiled). Here we’re using about 375 grams of dry pasta, which then becomes about 1 kg of boiled pasta and you’ll need at least 2,35 kg of cheesy cream sauce plus some final toppings of around 150 grams, for a grand total of 2,5 kg of sauce and toppings ingredients to 1 kg of boiled pasta.

I guess it’s more of an adult version because when you get older, you change and your tastes change too, unfortunately so does your body but hey, you’ve got to live a little too and allow yourself some excesses from time to time, you’ll just eat less or ‘fast’ or exercise the day after to compensate.

Why not ENJOY LIFE (or try to) ?! . . . :)