Serious Comfort Food Fusion

As previously mentioned, “As the last days of summer play out, we come to my least favorite day of the year: 9/11. I won’t go into any reasons; it should be apparent.”

In memory – Charles “Carlos” Dominguez. I can hear him say, “This is one really messed up first day at a new job.“

I am looking for comfort food today—hearty, warming, filling comfort food that you can eat a serving of and then hibernate until the next day.

Looking around, I have about a pound of frozen ground beef I had made for burgers earlier, and poking around the pantry, I have some elbow macaroni; in the fridge is leftover cheese soup / sauce, and in the cupboard, I have some homemade onion soup mix. Perhaps If I made some comfort food, aka Meat Loaf, topped it with comfort food, aka Mac and Cheese, and then baked the entire mess as a casserole, these are the types of things that make Madam BadWolf call me the devil himself.

One thing I’ll change up is the Onion soup mix. The stuff in the pouches in the box has way too much sodium, so I’ll use my soup mix.

Onion Soup Mix

Less sodium, fewer chemicals, more taste

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Total Time 5 minutes mins

Servings: 1 oz

Course: Ingredient

Cuisine: Global

Calories: 21

Ingredients Method Nutrition Notes

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x?

• 1/4 cup Dried Onion Flakes
• 2 tbsp Beef Bouillon Powder, Granules Sodium Free, ~ 2 cubes
• 1/8 tsp Black Pepper Ground coarse
• 1/8 tsp paprika
• 1/8 tsp celery seed
• 1/4 tsp Parsley Flakes
• 1/4 tsp Onion Powder

Method

 

1. Measure all of the ingredients into a bowl or a lidded container
2. Mix well.
3. Store in air tight container, in a cool, dry dark place, for up to 6 months.

Nutrition

Calories: 21kcalCarbohydrates: 2gProtein: 2gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0.2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.1gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 0.4mgSodium: 2401mgPotassium: 58mgFiber: 0.3gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 125IUVitamin C: 0.2mgCalcium: 14mgIron: 0.4mg

Notes

To make soup, Place this mix into a medium saucepan. Stir in 4 cups water and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Makes about 3 1/2 cups.

To make classic onion dip, Combine 1 oz (this mix) with 1 (16 oz.) container of sour cream.

To use as an ingredient: 3 tbsp = 1 packet of soup mix, or 1 oz, (this mix)

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Now, on to the main event: building a meatloaf, stirring up mac and cheese, and then building a casserole.

Note: many recipes for mac and cheese call for condensed cheddar cheese soup; I’ll substitute a basic cheese sauce for that and forgo the added salt and chemicals. One can use this basic cheese sauce for mac and cheese or add additional liquid in the form of milk to produce a passable cheese soup. For the Roguechef kick, one might swap the 1/4 tsp of dry mustard for 1/8 tsp of Hot mustard and 1/8 tsp of dry mustard. (or use the English mustard in the bright yellow tin.)

I’ve noted cheddar and mozzarella in the recipe below; the mozzarella can be swapped for an easy melter like smoked Gouda; similarly, the meat could be enhanced with a tsp of liquid smoke or Worcestershire.

Mac, Cheese and Meatloaf Casserole

Comfort Food, wrapped in comfort food, and cooked like comfort food, the ultimate comfort food fusion.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Servings: 6

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Calories: 902

Ingredients Method Nutrition Notes

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x?

Cheese sauce

• 3 tbsp Unsalted Butter
• 3 tbsp AP FLour
• 1/4 tsp Salt Kosher, of course
• 1/4 tsp Dry Mustard
• 1 cup Milk
• 1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese Grated

Casserole

• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 cup BBQ Sauce Prepard or https://www.roguechef.com/?p=2387
• 1 cup Bread Crumbs Unseasoned / Panko
• 2 oz Onion Soup mix See atttched recipie
• 3 cups Macaroni Or short pasta of choice
• 2 cups Milk
• 2 Ea Eggs Large / jumbo
• 1 unit Cheese Sauce See above
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Pepper Fresh coarse ground
• 1 tbsp garlic powder Powder, not salt
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 4 cups Shredded Cheese Cheddar and Mozzarella

Method

 

Cheese Sauce

1. In a small saucepan add the butter and melt over low heat.
2. Add in the flour and whisk, cooking for about a minute
3. Add in the salt, dry mustard and milk and whisk until smooth
4. Gradually add the cheddar cheese and whisk until smooth.
5. Reserve and keep warm

Casserole Assembly and Bake

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix ketchup and barbecue sauce. Set aside.
3. Combine minced beef, bread crumbs, onion soup mix, eggs, and half of the ketchup mixture.
4. Press into a greased baking dish. Top with the remaining ketchup mixture.
5. Bake for 30 minutes.
6. Cook macaroni (pasta) to al dente, drain
7. Mix with milk, cheddar cheese soup, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and 2 cups cheese.
8. Spread macaroni mixture over meatloaf and top with remaining cheese.
9. Bake for an additional 17-20 minutes.

Nutrition

Calories: 902kcalCarbohydrates: 96gProtein: 37gFat: 41gSaturated Fat: 23gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 116mgSodium: 3145mgPotassium: 647mgFiber: 4gSugar: 29gVitamin A: 1433IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 833mgIron: 2mg

Notes

See my recipe for Onion soup mix, included in this post

I prefer to make my ground / minced beef.

• Cube your portion of dead cow into 3/4 – 1″ chunks
• Spread onto a sheet pan and freeze for 30 minutes
• Grind up in either a grinder or a food processor

This allows me to control the amount of fat and the quality of the beef

We do want a leaner mix for this.

Yes, most store-bought ground beef is produced from high-quality trimmings, etc.

See Writeup at https://www.roguechef.com/?p=3888

Use any short pasta. Google short pasta, cook to al dente as per package directions

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