Hippo Birdies, Two Ewes...

Yesterday we celebrated a birthday...for the Younger...15 years...time sure flies like those birdies!

Our family tradition is that we go out for dinner - just the 4 of us on The Day - and the honoree gets to pick where we eat. Often the boys will opt for hibachi and John will pick someplace convenient...once I chose a minor league baseball game for the dogs, beer and spectacle...but it's not my birthday and I digress per usual.

Jere chose Old Man Rafferty's in New Brunswick, not Hillsborough, but we decided to go a day early 'cuz he didn't want to stress through homework to enjoy dinner. So, as an added b'day bonus, I offered to make whatever he wanted for dinner on The Day and he came up with: My Mac 'n Cheese. In this heat? Yes, he said, I think of it as warm weather food 'cuz you put in jalapenos...you know, the ones we grew? So they're from the summer and well, you know...

(OK, that was a couple years ago...kid has a steel food trap noggin!)

And a sweet for a candle holder? Wild Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches of course!

Details?
Here goes:
-Boil pasta in salted water until al dente; given the choice, Jere picked cavatappi since it's a tubey corkscrew and would hang onto the sauce for dear life.
-Preheat the oven to 400.
-In another pot, melt 4T butter then add 4T flour to make a roux.
-Add 4 c milk and 1 c chicken stock...recipe I use for guidance calls for all milk but I had 4 c in the jug, didn't wanna crack open the new one, so I augmented it with boxed stock in the fridge...stir constantly as you bring it to a boil.
-Add the cheese in phases, as each clump melts...I use a combo: It's what's leftover in the fridge and whatever else l feel like adding when I procure the rest...Today I used: a half lb each grated fontina and smoked gouda and I added the rest of my bbq rib meat (from our B'day Dinner, cut from the bone of course!) to the sauce.
-Season with salt and pepper and a half t each smoked paprika and aleppo pepper flakes.
-Add about a c frozen chopped spinach to the drained pasta.
-Combine the pasta in the sauce and pour into a 9 x 12 (ish) baking dish and make the topping: half c panko bread crumbs, 2 T parmesan cheese and 2 T olive oil. Mix to combine and sprinkle on the whole shebang.
-Bake until brown and bubbly...about 20 mins.

I think I'm the one who got the present from Jere: Mom, this is your best mac 'n cheese Ev-er!
Thanks Babe!