I remember reading once that Oprah Winfrey turned to macaroni and cheese when she received bad reviews for a film she produced. The inference was that mac and cheese was partially responsible for her weight gain because it was hopelessly rich.
Who can blame her? Mac and cheese, when made the traditional way, is a creamy and delicious comfort food with a calorie knock-out punch. Cooks Illustrated experimented with reduced-fat versions and came up with this one as the best compromise–about half the calories of regular but almost all of the rich creamy flavor and texture.
I used a white cheddar, which is why this is so light in color.
1/2 lb. elbow macaroni (about 2 cups)*
1 (12-oz.) can reduced-fat evaporated milk
3/4 cup 2% milk
1/4 t. dry mustard
1/8 t. garlic powder or celery salt (optional)
Pinch of cayenne pepper
2. t. cornstarch
8 oz. 50% light cheddar cheese, grated, (about 2 cups)**
Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Stir in 2 t. salt and macaroni and cook until pasta is completely cooked. (You don’t want it al dente.) Drain pasta and leave it in colander.
In the now empty pan, add the evaporated milk, 1/2 cup of the 2% milk, mustard, garlic powder, cayenne and 1/2 t. salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Whisk cornstarch into remaining 1/4 cup milk and whisk into simmering mixture. Continue to simmer, whisking constantly, until the sauce is thickened and smooth, about 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and gradually whisk in the grated cheddar cheese until melted and smooth. Stir in the cooked macaroni and let the mac and cheese sit off the heat until it is thickened slightly, about 2 to 5 minutes, before serving.
*I used Barilla Piccolini (Mini-penne), just for fun. Use whatever small pasta you like.
**Cooks Illustrated highly recommends Cabot 50% Reduced Fat Cheddar cheese, which is available in 8-ounce blocks. Do not use pre-shredded cheese. Cabot makes this cheese in both white and orange. I used the white.
Note: The first time I made this, I poured the mixture into a sprayed gratin dish, topped it with dry bread crumbs and a bit of leftover shredded cheese and ran it under the broiler until the top was browned.
Serves: 5
Note that the calories for traditional macaroni and cheese have been reduced from 650 calories per serving to 360 calories. Total fat grams have gone from 40 to 10. In this case, you don’t get what you pay for, you get more (or less, depending on how you look at it!)
