Mama Shute's Mac and Cheese

Nothing healthy about this dish. But it hits the spot, makes me think of home and is so good you'd eat the whole pan if you're not deathly careful. When I found out how easy this was to make I almost slapped my momma. Almost. Nothing this good could be this easy. But like my good friend Robert Pirsig always says, "The solutions are all simple after you've arrive at them. But they're simple only when you know already what they are." I just blew your mind didn't I? 

Our new laboratory manager decided we should have a pot luck. It was suggested that we bring something from our heritage. Being that this is a science community we have people from China, Poland, Italy... well I was born and raised in North Carolina, and nothing says North Carolina like baked carbs and cheese.  Ironically, this is my mom's recipe who was born in England and has never officially become a citizen here.  So I can play it both ways with this being from my heritage, my mom is still a card carrying Brit so I made baked macaroni and cheese? I know... the tie into my heritage breaks down very quickly. I am going to use British spellings/words to make the tie in on today's post. You will find these with an underline. Regardless, this was my contribution- hence the need to cook it in a disposable container. Ok let's see today's contestants! 

Butter. Evaporated milk. Fresh cracked pepper. 8 oz sharp cheddar cheese. 1 box elbow macaroni. That's it! 

Pre-heat your cooker to 375. Boil your pasta according to the box. I also like to salt my water because this is the only opportunity to flavour the pasta.

Time to layer. Divide your pasta into three parts. Put the first part in the pan. Add fresh cracked pepper and pats of butter.

Cover this first layer with cheese. Repeat three times. Pasta, pepper, butter, cheese. Pasta, pepper, butter, cheese. 

Now take that can of evaporated milk and pour all over the top of the layers. Bake for 30 minutes in the hob. And you're done.

So good! And such a beautiful colour when it's done. 

So, I'm not being shoddy in my meal choice to bring. This turns out to be quite brilliant and I am sure my colleagues will queue up in anticipation for this treat. Ahh fun with heritage!