‘Ultimate Recipe Showdown’ Articles at Sweetnicks

I feel like I am on a lifelong search for THE macaroni and cheese recipe. The one to stop the searches. And on that journey, I’ve tried a number of recipes that, while good, haven’t been the one. Nick, on the other hand, is strictly a blue box kid and has zero interest in my lifelong quest and the all versions the journey entails trying. I am really trying to find a match for a macaroni and cheese that my sister and I grew up eating from a local restaurant. Wait. That sounds like our mom never cooked us dinner. She did. All the time. You know what I mean.

That mac and cheese that I long to replicate was your very traditional kind with the nice crust on top. Nothing fancy, just downhome comfort food. This version I’m going to introduce you to is a kicked-up adult version if you will. They are not interchangeable. They each serve their own purpose.

I’m a big fan of Food Network’s Ultimate Recipe Showdown, where home cooks like you and me compete with their original recipe to win the top prize of $25,000. Besides a nice hunk of cha-ching, the winning recipe also appears on T.G.I Friday’s menus very soon after their win.

When I saw the episode on comfort dishes, I was rapt with attention. Especially when I saw a recipe for a mac and cheese. The end result looked so good that win or lose, I was going to make it. Rick Massa, the creator of the recipe, was quite a fun guy. A former LAPD SWAT team member, once he retired, he started cooking. While he was making the dish, the judges worried about all the cheeses, particularly the strong Maytag Blue that he used. Rick himself worried about finishing up a little early during the competition (you can catch a little video from the episode here). Well, it turns out that nobody needed to worry, as Rick’s dish took top honors.

Weeks later, I headed down to T.G.I Friday’s to try it out and it was love at first bite. When the restaurant gets ahold of the winning recipe, they sometimes do a little tweaking, and their version includes a grilled chicken breast. For $5.99. The entire dish for $5.99. Such a great little bargain. I order that, I give Madeline half of the chicken for her dinner, and the remaining chicken and pasta is enough for my dinner and lunch the next day. All for under $6!

So I’ve fallen into a rut and every time we go to T.G.I. Friday’s, I order the pasta. But this past weekend, I finally got the chance to actually make it myself and it did not disappoint. Just pulling it out of the oven and seeing all the little bubbles of cheesy goodness was enough to let you know you’re in for a good time. Now after tasting both versions, I think the restaurant’s rendition is also a touch creamier and might have a little more blue cheese than the original version, but both are good. You just might moan at first bite. Creamy from all the cheese, with sharp pockets of bite when you hit the blue cheese, this is comfort food at its best.

Whether you go have it at the restaurant, or in your very own kitchen, you won’t be disappointed. A wonderful adult version of mac and cheese….

I tend to get total tunnel vision sometimes when it comes to food. All I need to do is hear about a dish or type of food, whether it be on tv, in a magazine article or online, and all the sudden, it’s all I can think about. I’ll hear a commercial for a local restaurant, and it’s all I want for dinner. I hear about a new Indian dish, and all the sudden a craving sets in and previous menu plans get scrapped. Such was the case recently with Chicken and Waffles.

I knew Chicken and Waffles was a Southern thing, and didn’t know much past that. Then I saw a mention of it (and ensuing conversation) on Chow’s website. Then I became obsessed. I wanted to have Chicken and Waffles, and it’s all I could think about. Through pure planet alignment, on a recent episode of Ultimate Recipe Showdown on Food Network, one of the competing recipes happened to be Hotlanta Chicken and Waffle Sandwiches with Spicy Maple Mayonnaise. It seemed rather fortuitous to me.

When the woman (Julie Ohnstad) was competing, she lost track of time, and thought that she had 15 minutes left, instead of the reality of only 5 minutes to go in the timed round. She threw together her plating in such a rush that she forgot to add the sauce, a really key component to the recipe. Once the judges found out about the issue, they asked for some sauce so that they could try the dish the way she intended it (although that couldn’t count towards her score, in fairness to the other three contestants who completed their dishes on time). She didn’t win, no surprise there, but in some after-show filming with the judges, they were asked if she would have won had she served the dish properly. They said she probably would have. Can you imagine? She lost out on $25,000 and the opportunity to have her recipe appear on T.G.I. Fridays menus nationwide just because she lost track of time. Ouch.

Nonetheless, it was perfect timing for me (small consolation, I’m sure), and I used her recipe when I made the Chicken and Waffles on Friday night. Our grocery store has small packages of fresh Belgian waffles, and I ended up going that route, which saved me the time of making my own waffles; perfect since I don’t have (and wasn’t going to buy) a waffle maker.

Loved, loved, loved these. I’m not sure what sauce, if any, traditionally goes with Chicken and Waffles (anyone?), but I have seen some that included a gravy. I loved the sweetness of this one. The sharpness of the Cheddar, the crispiness of the bacon and the creamy sweet tang of the sauce … and then the tenderness of the chicken and waffles … made for a perfect introduction to the world of Chicken and Waffles. Look, it may sound a little odd … waffles with cheese, chicken, bacon and a maple sauce … but trust me, this is just one of those things that works. And works it does. Even The Husband who kind of looked at it funny and raised an eyebrow when I told him what this was, raved about it the next day. And that Chicken and Waffles obsession? Well, now I think I need to hunt down more recipes for it…

P.S. The recipe looks long, but I promise it goes really quickly. I managed to do it in about 45 minutes (taking that waffle shortcut route) with two kids and a dog underfoot.

P.P.S. For my BBQ peeps, I have cook-all-night brisket in the oven – what are typical sides to serve with brisket? Help!…

Cheese Lovers 5 Cheese Mac and Cheese

Recipe: Chicken and Waffles