I have been dreaming about making homemade macaroni since I first saw the latest and greatest KitchenAid attachment. I guess I am a sucker for their attachments; but, have you tried them? I could be a spokesperson for them but am not. This comes from the heart, I love all of the ones we own. In fact that KitchenAid mixer was one of the best gifts we have ever gotten and is put to great use all the time. Okay, back to the attachment. Why didn’t I purchase this sooner??? Fun! Fun! Fun!
I was not sure how it was all going to come together so I stuck with their basic pasta recipe for the first go around. It was fine; but, next time I will go with one of my pasta recipes. There is not much to say about it really … you make the dough, pull of walnut size pieces, throw the pieces into the shoot and presto, you have fresh pasta within seconds. Really! It took less than an hour to make the dough and crank out a pound of fresh macaroni. Since I was going to be baking the dish that the macaroni was going to go into I did let it dry for about 5 hours. I basically made it in the morning, rolled the pasta in some semolina flour (on a cookie sheet) and let it sit on the table and dry. Easy!
Not only have I had this attachment on my mind for the past few months; but, I have had macaroni and cheese tucked back into my thoughts. We had some fantastic macaroni and cheese a couple months ago and I have not been able to stop thinking about it. As well I had dinner with some friends a couple weeks back and the same topic came up as Allison is opening a restaurant, called Little Mac, and you guessed it … macaroni and cheese.
This recipe was inspired by my conversation with some great ladies over dinner as well as the dish I ate awhile back. Using fresh macaroni, just took it to another level. The fresh pasta is combined with a creamy sauce made of bacon, dijon mustard and three different cheeses: Parmesan, Fiscalini Cheddar and Gruyere. It is comforting, creamy, slightly smokey and not your typical macaroni and cheese. I guess you could say it is more of an adult version.
Recipe: Macaroni and Cheese
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14 comments
the sounds I was making as I read this post lead my husband to believe I was looking at something totally inappropriate. I just had no idea there was a kitchen aid attachment for extruded pasta. OMG! Thank you so much, because if I hadn’t found this I would be getting something lame for Christmas, but now I know my Christmas is going to ROCK!!! Amazing, amazing, amazing. Thanks for all the lovely photos!
[...] pasta, bucatini, to go with the sauce. Our friend Chelsea wanted to learn how to make pasta using our new gadget so it was the perfect excuse for a mini lesson and [...]
How yummy!! I have the pasta attachments for fettucine, spaghetti, and lasagne, but not for macaroni!! Now you’re making me want one haha. Your pasta looks perfect!! YUM
Wow! I’ve had a Kitchen Aid pasta attachment kicking around in the pantry for a couple of years and just ignored it. Your macaroni looked so fantastic that I have to make some now. Thanks for opening my eyes!
You make me want to buy the pasta maker attachment to my Kitchen Aid mixer now and try this. Yum.
What fun! I just love watching the pasta emerge from the extruder—it’s like magic!
That’s so cool! I want to try that attachment. Great-looking mac and cheese too!
Wow.. First time i see this Kitchenaid attachment. That is so cool! So many shapes!
And you put it to perfect use. Nothing can beat a nice mac & cheese for comfort. I like the mix of different cheeses in your version.
Fabulous Denise! We just used our pasta attachment (not that one – the spaghetti one but it also seems to have a plate for the macaroni, just not the ridged one) for the first time last weekend and I was so impressed with it. Course, we need to work on our pasta dough but still… I am SO making macaroni and cheese soon!
Dude, that looks insanely delicious – the homemade macaroni alone looks amazing, plus bathed and baked in that beautiful sauce? You’re killing me. Mac & cheese is one of my top three weaknesses…
Wow. I think you just took it to the next level!
Man, this looks good! Is there anything better than a great mac and cheese? Mmm! What a fun attachment – I had no idea such a thing existed.
DROOL. Mac’n'cheese from homemade macaroni! that’s amazing. I almost licked my computer screen when I got to that last photo. Have they invented food email yet?!?
GAH. You’re killing me. Killing. Me. I’m cold even though it’s been a gorgeous day here today, and now I’m hungry. Thanks a LOT.