Comfort Combined

While I may still remain the most unknown food blogger in the world, there are several more successful bloggers that I follow and admire. One such blogger is Julia Frey. Her food blog can be found at www.vikalinka.com. She makes amazing dishes and makes them all look effortless.

I chose to cook and review one of her recipes this week that combines two of my favorite comfort foods – homemade macaroni and cheese and Bolognese sauce. Her recipe is called “Layered Italian Baked Mac and Cheese.”

I had all of the ingredients on hand and it continues to be cold and rainy here, so comfort is in order.

Now, I am not going to lie to you. It looked super easy on the blog, but when I set out to make it, I realized there are many steps to this bad boy, making LOTS of dishes. But, if you are up for something I would call a labor of love, the flavor combination is amazing and worth a little extra time in the kitchen.

The first step is to make a homemade Bolognese sauce. This sauce is a quick sauce and is a little more basic than the last Bolognese I shared with you. You just need ground beef, chopped or crushed tomatoes, garlic, dried basil, oregano, salt and some olive oil.

I chose to make my Bolognese sauce a little earlier in the day so that part was taken care of ahead of time. It simmers for 15-20 minutes, so you can put it together and let it do it’s thing while you switch out loads of laundry or something similar.

When you are ready to assemble the casserole, you need to prep a 13×9 dish by buttering the bottom and sides. Layer your Bolognese sauce evenly on the bottom of your pan and set aside while you make your mac & cheese.

Fill a pot with salted water on the stove top to prepare your noodles. Julia used rigatoni, but I used elbow noodles. Both are good options. Once your water is ready, cook the noodles for 3 minutes less than the package says. When the noodles are done, coat them with a tablespoon of butter.

Meanwhile, prepare your cheese sauce by melting some butter in a sauce pan, then adding some flour, blending with a wire whisk and adding milk gradually to create a roux. Once this is blended well, remove it from the heat and add shredded cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese. Stir in the cheeses, the pasta and 1/2 cup reserved pasta water.

It was at this stage that I discovered I didn’t have enough hands. I enlisted the help of my oldest daughter to stir the pasta while I made the cheese sauce.

Once your cheese sauce and noodles are nicely combined, layer the mac & cheese on top of the Bolognese.

Sprinkle more mozzarella on top of the noodles and pop it in an oven preheated to 375ºF and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

If this dish sound delicious to you but you really don’t want all those extra steps, Julia also suggests you could add browned ground beef to your favorite jarred pasta sauce instead of making Bolognese from scratch.

Serve with some crusty bread and a green salad and you have an amazing meal. It tastes just as yummy the next day as leftovers, too.

I am guessing that if I made this more often, I would perfect the system and it wouldn’t seem so labor intensive. While making it, I said I wasn’t going to do it again, but after eating it I think I will indeed be trying it again.

If you would like to try it out for yourself, you can find the recipe here – https://vikalinka.com/baked-mac-and-cheese/?fbclid=IwAR2ihcpxJhbMyOhPB3_68dgh6hdhe18qJA2–th05hjDMPKVs0ovZcfIzRY