Stovetop Mac & Cheese

The past couple days were so fun. Mom and I covered a lot of ground on her trip, from the Crime and Punishment Museum (seriously creepy) to the Mall (lawn version, not retail) to Alexandria’s Old Town and a lot in between. I took her to Le Pain Quotidien, which I realize is a chain but is one of my favorite breakfast/lunch places. She loved it so much we went twice! We ordered the seasonal special tartine, which had tuna salad with pickled onions and melted white cheddar. We regretted splitting. We shared a mixed berry tart for dessert, and agreed that fruit tarts are one of – if not the best – desserts out there.

For her last night, I wanted to make dinner. I found a recipe for mac and cheese in my Food & Wine magazine that used marscarpone cheese (which I happened to have left over from another recipe). You just make a basic roux with flour, butter, paprika and milk.

Add the marscarpone, cheddar, fontina cheese and salt (and I added a few dashes of cayenne pepper for spice). Dump in the cooked whole wheat noodles, and keep over heat until bubbling.

It was creamy and comforting, just like mac and cheese is supposed to be. We had it with broccoli topped with gorgonzola and a simple salad.

Unfortunately, all Sunday I could tell I was coming down with something…and sure enough I was up almost all night feeling terrible and feverish. At least I’m on spring break and don’t have to go to work this week!