Comforts of Home - Smoked Turkey Mac n' Cheese

Thanks to the blast of cold, wet and generally miserable weather that's hit Toronto in the past few days, it's been pretty tempting to huddle up indoors with reruns of , some knitting and lots of comfort food to keep me warm. I guess it's not just bears that feel the need to hibernate when it's like this. :)

One of my favourites dishes for crummy weather is classic mac n' cheese. The homemade stuff, that is... not the dayglo orange stuff that comes in a box. Properly made, it's pure comfort - creamy, uncomplicated deliciousness that warms you up from the inside out.

I decided to fancy up this batch with some chunks of smoked turkey that I had kicking around in the fridge, along with some sweet peas for contrast, but you can easily adapt the recipe to use whatever you happen to have on hand... basically, it's a pretty forgiving dish so long as you're starting off with the basic combination of white sauce, grated cheese and cooked pasta, and the rest is up to you. Going to the grocery store kind of defeats the purpose of hibernation, after all.

(In fact, I didn't even use macaroni in this dish - I used a twisty shape called 'o Vesuvio instead, which has tons of little twists for the sauce to nestle into)

BTW, remember to keep an eye on the casserole as it bakes. Your aim is to bake just long enough to get the dish nicely browned and bubbly, and to take it out as soon as this is achieved. If you overbake, all that lovely creamy sauce will seize up into a pasty mess, and that's most definitely not what you want.

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Smoked Turkey Mac n' Cheese

2 cups uncooked macaroni or shell pasta
1 small onion, grated
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
3 cups milk
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup diced smoked turkey or ham
½ cup frozen peas
1 tsp powdered mustard
Salt and pepper
½ cup panko breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta until just shy of al dente, or about 1 minute less than the recommended cook time printed on the package. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, in a large saute pan set over medium heat, saute the onion in butter until translucent. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes to make a roux. Slowly whisk in the milk and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens up. Remove from heat and stir in the grated cheese, smoked turkey, peas and mustard. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
Pour the cheese sauce over the drained macaroni and toss to coat evenly. Spoon the mixture into a buttered casserole dish, and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until bubbling hot.