Our family has started watching the Food Network on a regular basis. This past summer, we watched "The Next Food Network Start" for several episodes and I was quite happy when Aarti won. We make sure we DVR her show and have tried a couple of her recipes. The Bombay Sloppy Joes were good and we all enjoyed her chocolate ginger pie on Thanksgiving.
Yesterday, we decided to try her Thai Red Curry Mac N Cheese. I must confess. I have never made Mac 'n Cheese from scratch before. I am actually not a huge fan of mac 'n cheese but her recipe seemed interesting. When we announced what we were making for ourselves, Boy-o expressed an interest in having his own non-dairy version so we got to work boiling the macaroni. I didn't have enough macaroni to make some for Boy-o's so we took an old box of pasta salad mix, took out the pasta and threw out the rest of the ingredients. I also didn't have any extra red curry paste for Boy-o's so I substituted minced hot peppers and mixed those into the cooked pasta. We boiled, we whisked, we stirred, made a big mess and this is what we ended up with.
The top one in the cast iron skillet is the pasta with the red curry paste. It was a lovely orange color. The bottom picture was the non-dairy version. Since I hadn't planned on making him one, I used a mixture of the soy cheeses that I had in the refrigerator.
Results: Our mac n cheese had a lovely flavor. The red curry paste was a nice change of pace and I would definitely make it again. I enjoyed the crumb topping on top. The next time I make it, I will probably cut the recipe in half to better fit the needs of our family. As it is, I am going to be eating mac n cheese all week! My son said his version was ok but couldn't taste the chopped up hot peppers. He also doesn't really like the choice of cheeses that I used. We saved the leftovers and he is going to try it again today. I would try making it again and used different cheese for him. I would also make his with the red curry paste as I think he would enjoy that flavor. It was an easy recipe to make but a bit messy. Making a smaller amount should help with that. All in all, a successful experience!
Never heard of red curry paste! Looks very interesting. I love trying new things, a lot of time I get the recipes from the food network, but not from watching TV, I go right to their website. I have tried so many recipes where I had to buy some weird ingredient, such as fish sauce, and use only a little of it and I end up with some crazy ingredients on my fridge door that stay there for literally years! One time I went to use a really old one, and wasn't sure if it was still ok...I mean...I didn't SEE any mold. I googled it and found out that lots of people use stuff like that that may be years old. I just don't know.....
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