Spicy Mac And Cheese Bites

How many of you have ever had a horror day on the cooking front?  The day when nothing went right?  So It was with me when I went to make the “Baked Curly Shells and Proscuitto Cake” recipe from the November 2002 editiion of Super Food Ideas mag.  For various reasons, about to be elaborated upon, these morphed into these spicy mac and cheese bites!

Spicy Mac and Cheese Bites – The First Error

The base of the OG recipe was ricotta cheese.  I went to the deli section of my local supermarket.  “Can I have 250 grams of ricotta cheese please?”

The little gobshite behind the counter (believe me, the truth of this statement will bear out) said.  “We don’t have any”.

“Ermmm…..could you check out the back please?

He went out the back but he returned far to quickly to have checked for anything.

“We don’t have any””

Ok.  So I was shopping at around 7pm so the proper, non-supermarket, deli was closed.  The tubs of ricotta in the dairy aisle  were all the size of small swimming pools.  I didn’t want to be spending the rest of the week finding recipes to use that much left over riicotta.    So I decided to use bechamel, for which I had all the ingredients for at home.

“‘Ok, no worries, can I have 12 slices of proscuitto please?

“‘Of what?”‘

“PROSCUITTO”

Let me be clear, we’re still not at the point where he became a gobshite.

Spicy Mac and Cheese Bites – The Second Error

So I got my proscuitto.  Sorry, PROSCUITTO.  And headed home.  Boiled up my macaroni.  Made my bechamel.  Mixed my macaroni and bechamel together.  It was a little bland.  I added some chilli flakes.  It’s the Sri Lankan in me.  I like things a little spicy.  I then went to line my muffin tins with proscuitto.  (Just like last weeks cupcakes, I was making smaller versions of these “cakes” to work with my picnic theme.

I opened my pack from the deli and was faced not with proscuitto but with Sopressa!  Which is an incredibly spicy salami.

Now my first ever job was in the supermarket deli.  Never ever would I have mixed up proscuitto and sopressa!!!!  And this my friends, is what made him a gobshite!

But by now it was close to 9pm.  I  did have the energy to get back in the car, drive back to Woolworths, explain what had happened, swap out the sopressa for proscuitto, drive home…

So I remembered that old Italian adage.  “When life gives you sopressa, make….mac and cheese bites anyway”‘.

These little mac and cheese bites were so good!  I would probably drop the chilli from the pasta mix when making again though as, with the sopressa they were really quite fiery! They were also good reheated and cold / ambient temperature!  So would be great picnic food.

The OG Recipe

My Spicy Mac and Cheese Bites

Spicy Mac And Cheese Bites

Print Recipe

Spicy mac and cheese!  Perfect for picnics, lunch or anytime!

• Author: Taryn Nicole
• Yield: 12 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 250g curly shells or other macaroni
• 12 slices or proscuitto or 24 slices of sopressa
• Chilli flakes (optional)
• 2 tbsp bread crumbs
• Butter

Cheese Sauce

• 500ml milk
• 4 tbsp plain flour
• 50g butter
• 100g grated vintage cheddar cheese
• Freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
• salt and pepper

Olive oil spray  / butter for the mufffin tin

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Instructions

Cheese Sauce

• Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat.
• Add the flour to the butter and stir with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes.
• Gradually add the milk, whisking all the while to remove any lumps.
• Cook, stirring all the time, until the mixture boils and thickens.
• Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently for 5 minutes or until the sauce is the consistency of custard.
• Remove the sauce from the heat, add stir through the cheese.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add a pinch or two of freshly grated nutmeg and some chilli flakes if desired.

Macaroni

• Cook the macaroni according to the directions on the packet. You can reduce the cooking time a bit as the macaroni will be baked later.
• Heat your oven to 180C.
• Mix the cheese sauce into the macaroni.
• Grease your muffin tin.  I prefer to use a spray for this but you can use butter or olive oil if you prefer.
• Line the bottom and sides of each muffin cup with sopressa or proscuitto.  Cut the proscuitto into 2 pieces.
• Spoon the pasta mixture into the lined muffin cups.
• Sprinkle with breadcrumbs
• Dot with butter
• Place into the oven and cook for 30 minutes or until the tops are nicely browned.
• Let sit for a few minutes before removing from the pan.

 

Let me know if you make either recipe!
Have a great week!