I grew up in a home that celebrates and loves food! Every occasion is a chance to make and enjoy good food with the family. My mom has this one recipe for Macaroni & Cheese that she cooks every Easter and our entire family is invited over to indulge in this dish. The recipe was passed down to her from my grandma, who also happens to be a great cook!
Although this is called Macaroni & Cheese, it’s very different than the American version. The real quick back story here is that Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch and therefore some of our food has Dutch influences (this recipe being just one example).
Now that my mom is getting older, she’s starting to teach us how to make our favorite dishes for ourselves. Although she lives far away in Indonesia, on this Mother’s Day I’ll be making her Macaroni & Cheese to remind me of home and mom’s love for cooking. Toast to you mom and Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers!
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 pack bucatini pasta
- 4 eggs
- 2 tomatoes
- 1/2 lb ham (cut to stripes)
- 2 cups milk
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup gouda cheese
- 1 cup special gouda cheese
- 1 cup piave cheese
- 1 cup cheddar cheese
- (for the cheeses you can substitute with any cheese, but no soft cheeses)
- tomato ketchup
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pasta. Once the pasta is “al dente”, drain water & pour some olive oil so that pasta does not stick together.
- In a large bowl mix: eggs, milk, nutmeg, pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
- Lightly grease a 9”x13” baking dish. Cover bottom of pan with a layer of pasta & spread proportional amounts of cheeses & ham over pasta. Repeat layers with pasta, cheese and ham. Top final layer with sliced tomatoes and more cheese. Pour previously mixed batter (eggs, milk, nutmeg, etc) all over the dish (see photo).
- Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. At the 50 minute mark, remove dish from oven & apply tomato ketchup. Place back in oven for remaining 10 minutes.
- Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.