Mediterranean Mac and Cheese

Early this year, without telling Noel, I quietly signed up for a subscription to Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food magazine. Doesn’t online ordering make it easy to sign up for these things?

I had become enchanted with the idea of the magazine after seeing it mentioned on a few food blogs, which led me to the Martha website, where I spend DAYS trolling the Everyday Food archives. I decided the stuff was great, and way less fussy than the recipes I normally make, so it would be a good edition to our cookbook idea pool.

Why did I have to not tell Noel that I was signing up for a magazine? Especially a little harmless one like Everyday Food that doesn’t take up much space or cost a lot of money. Well…I might have a magazine addiction problem. And living in 990 square feet, my little problem soon becomes a whole lot of clutter, with subscriptions to a weekly, three monthlies, and whole mess of catalogues. And of course, I don’t want to throw all of those glossies away right away, so inevitably, the stacks grow, and grow. And then I go on an anti-clutter rampage (which may or may not typically end in tears) and I swear off magazines. Which Noel is okay with. Until another magazine catches my eye, and then the whole vicious circle (and Noel’s eye rolling) starts all over again!

So Noel was perhaps a little surprised when the first issue of Everyday Food arrived. As I defended my purchase–”it’s food we can make for weeknight dinners!”–he seemed skeptical. But then he sat down with it one night during dinner and started flipping through. And came up with a whole bunch of ideas for meals from it’s pages. I vetoed a few (too many calories per serving, which the magazine helpfully provides for each dish) but we’ve made a lot and we’ve been happy with them all. So it’s been a good tool overall, and I think Noel’s forgiven me!

But this is the first recipe we made, and I think it might be my favorite. This is just so good, I had a hard time stopping when I was eating it–I had to remind myself that we intended this to be dinner for two days!

Mediterranean Mac and Cheese
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food Magazine

This recipe is from the “From Your Kitchen” section of Everyday Food, and the person who submitted it is clearly a kitchen genius. We did lighten it up a bit, using skim milk instead of whole and whole wheat pasta. And that’s all I can think of to write, even though we really loved this. Because after way too much fun in NYC this weekend, I’m barely awake and typing!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
8 ounces macaroni
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups skim milk
8 ounces feta, crumbled

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Bring a pot of water to boil, and cook the macaroni for two minutes less than directed on the package. Strain pasta, return to pot and set aside. butter the bottom of a casserole dish.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add flour and cook while stirring constantly for one minute. Whisk in milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer while whisking until sauce thickens, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat a whisk in half of the feta. Then stir in tomatoes and oregano. Season with salt and pepper, then pour mixture over pasta. Spread pasta in the prepared casserole dish, then sprinkle remaining feta on top. Bake until sauce is bubbling and cheese begins to brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.

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