Pre-Race Feast: Italian Baked Mac and Sleaze

I don't cook.  I've used the oven in my current apartment exactly one time, and it was to heat up those break-and-bake chocolate chip cookies.  And usually I buy that stuff and eat it raw.


It's not that I don't like to cook; I actually find it to be a really fun project, alone or with others.  But I live in a small apartment with crappy, hand-me-down utensils and so I spend most of my food budget as an individual on toast with peanut butter, cous cous (five minutes on the stove; doesn't count as cooking), toaster oven pizza, and delivery.  When I'm with other people, they are generally much better chefs than me, so mostly I manage clean-up.  And drinking.


Anyway, because I do enjoy cooking, I was excited to head out to Connecticut this afternoon, where I'd have access to my parents' fancy suburban kitchen with its Pyrex this and Le Creuset that.  And also, where all the groceries are already paid for!  I knew I wanted to whip up some kind of pasta feast ahead of tomorrow's 50k, and that I didn't want it to be something I could actually tackle in my Brooklynese kitchen if I were ever highly motivated to prepare mid-week home cooked meals that require anything beyond the microwave (which I will never be).  I settled on Italian Baked Mac and Sleaze!


Now naturally, because I seldom cook, recipe development isn't my forte; I can figure out what flavors might work together, given my 28 years of experience as an eater, but not always what proportions of ingredients to use.  Thank God for those aforementioned friends who are much better chefs than I.  Tonight I was inspired by Erica's Pumpkin Sage Mac and Cheese.


I knew this would be good because I've actually made it, in its original form, a few times before (again, in Connecticut, where there is enough counter space for both the pasta pot and the casserole dish this requires).  It's a delicious feast for a post-long run Sunday night, and it's super easy - no roux or béchamel or any of those other fancy things.  Cook pasta, mix it with milk and cheese and other stuff, bake it in the oven, and eat it.  I figured with some seasonally appropriate tweaks to the "other stuff," it might also work as a solid pre-race fuel.

E's original recipe:
Pumpkin Sage Mac n Cheese
Serves 4 
8 oz Pasta, whichever shape makes you happy
1 cup Canned Pumpkin
1/4 cup Milk (I used Almond Milk because it's what I had)
2 cups Shredded Cheese (I used a combo of Asiago, Mozzarella, and Parmesan. Cheddar or Goat Cheese would also be fantastic)
5 large Sage leaves, cut into chiffonade
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 cup Bread Crumbs

Cook your pasta according to the package directions, but remove from the water about 2 minutes before it's done, until not quite al dente.
Preheat oven to 400 F.
In the meantime, in a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, milk, shredded cheese and sage leaves. Season with salt and pepper. When the pasta is cooked, toss into the pumpkin and cheese mixture and mix well.
Spoon the pasta into a small casserole dish and cover with the breadcrumbs. Place in your preheated oven and bake approximately 20-30 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the breadcrumbs are toasted and browned.

I nixed the pumpkin, but threw in a handful of cherry tomatoes, halved, because I haven't eaten any vegetables since Tuesday.  I used about a cup and a half of shredded mozzarella and a quarter cup each parmesan and goat cheese.  I didn't use any sage because that wasn't a choice in my parents' pantry and I don't know what chiffonade means, but probably if I had found any basil, that would have been good.  And I topped it with Italian breadcrumbs, because I used mozzarella and tomatoes, and duh, that makes anything "Italian."   

Oh, I also didn't use any salt and pepper because I forgot and only just remembered as I put the damn thing in the oven and sat down to type this up.  Shit.

Anyway, this is what it looked like before it went into the oven.

I expect it'll look like that, but browner, when it comes out.  Unless I get distracted watching TV and forget about it.

Here's hoping this is a perfect pre-race feast.  If it's not, I'm blaming you, Erica.