Milky Madness: Dish 1 and Dish 2 precede this story and have details I have not repeated here.
With the Milky Mushrooms and Impossible Quiche completed, I moved on to the next dish planned. A true bastardisation of a couple of recipes that ends up having similarities to both Macaroni Cheese and Tuna Mornay , with a few twists depending on what I have on hand.
This time I used up the half capsicum left over from a recent curry, another litre of milk, half a packet of Risoni, a half block of parmesan cheese, a goodly chunk of tasty cheese, the secret ingredient of course, the last two onions, a cup of frozen peas, and butter for the roux.
Having cooked off the capsicum, peas, and onions and put them aside, and discovering there was no macaroni on hand, the risoni was substituted and boiled and drained ready for inclusion in the cheesy sauce. I knew I’d need a goodly sized roux as I intended to use at least one litre of milk. The trick to a roux is to use cold milk, a bit more butter than you think you should and a bit less flour than you think you should so the mix looks silky instead of dry and crumbly. You get better with practice.
Making a roux, plus cheesy sauce with multiple pre-cooked ingredients really is ‘slaving over a hot stove’! I had also intended to make a baked custard to use the last litre of excess milk, along with the last dozen eggs but I just ran out of GAF by the time the Risoni Cheese was done. After carefully mixing the ingredients into the roux step by step, making sure it was all thoroughly and evenly mixed, the mixture was divided into three mini foil trays, 21.9 cm x 15.7 cm x 4 cm and baked. Usually, I’d sprinkle the top with Panko crumbs and grated cheese, but I didn’t want the extra carb load this time.
Using up left overs to make something a teensy bit creative, different and tasty gives such a lift to the spirit, I think. The last month or so I’ve been trying to use up things that have been sitting in the pantry for awhile, and so far I’ve been fairly successful.