mac and cheese!

I made this mac and cheese earlier this week but I never got around to posting it. I know most M&C enthusiasts would say that tomatoes don't belong on top but it's delicious! I personally love tomatoes so it can do no wrong (I also think broccoli would be great in m&c). It's a good recipe but I wouldn't say it's my go-to recipe for mac and cheese. The search continues!


Recipe by Martha Stewart
Ingredients

• 6 small tomatoes-cut into 1/4 inch slices
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1.5 teaspoon fresh thyme (I only had dried and cut it in half)
• salt/pepper
• 5 slices of white bread (I used wheat since it was all I had)
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 1 lb macaroni
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 5 tablespoon all purpose flour
• pinch of nutmeg
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 2 cups low-fat milk
• 8 oz sharp cheddar-grated
• 1/2 cup parmesan-grated

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees, spread tomatoes on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle thyme, salt and pepper. Bake until tomatoes are soft (about 20 mins)
• In the food processor, process bread until coarse. Melt 1 tablespoon butter with 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and toast bread crumbs. Season with salt and pepper.
• Cook pasta to al dente, drain and run under cold water to stop cooking and transfer into a large bowl
• Whisk 1/2 cup of stock with flour in a medium bowl and set aside. Melt remaning tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Stir nutmeg, cayenne, remaining 1/2 teaspoon of thyme and 1 teaspoon of salt. Add milk and rest of stock (1 1/2 cups). Whisk in flour mixture. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer and cook for 8 mins. Add cheese and stir until melted.
  
• Pour cheese mixture over pasta. Put eight 4 1/2-by-1 1/4-inch ramekins on a baking sheet. Put 2 tomato slices in bottom of each ramekin. Divide macaroni mixture evenly among ramekins. Top each with a tomato slice. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and thyme sprigs. Bake until bubbling and golden brown, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.