MACARONI AND BUTTER

Growing up in the 40s and 50s we never had Mac and Cheese.  Instead my mother would occasionally serve macaroni with butter, which was really the Italian-American version of Mac and Cheese.  Oh my God...it was delicious.  Spaghetti soaked with butter and Parmigiano cheese.  Only now, approaching my 75^th birthday, have I been able to overcome my shame and confess that as  a young boy I would put Ketchup on my mom’s macaroni and butter. I shudder now when I think about that.  Fortunately I out grew that taste.

I don’t know how my mother prepared that dish; I imagine it was basically butter and cheese.  I serve my own version now.  It is quite simple and like most of my pasta dishes, nothing is measured, and it’s never prepared exactly the same way twice.

While the pasta is cooking – usually elbow macaroni, but any of the small shaped pastas will do – I select and serving bowl and begin tossing in the following:

Mascarpone

Grated Parmigiano or Grana Padana

Butter

Just a small bit of blue cheese

A bit of heavy cream or milk is optional

Toss in the cooked pasta along with some pasta water, mix well and prepare yourself for some heavenly comfort food.

Tonight I added a little twist to send Patience off to NYC and Westminster in the morning.  Bite sized pieces of asparagus previously nuked in the microwave were added to the mix in the bowl, along with finely chopped fresh Dill.