From The Bee’s cookbook: This Thanksgiving, make The Rind’s macaroni and cheese
Maybe your mom’s macaroni and cheese is a Thanksgiving staple. But for a distinctly different alternative, The Rind presents “not your mom’s mac.”
Sara Arbabian’s midtown Sacramento cheese-and-wine temple will be closed on Thanksgiving, but The Rind’s flagship dish can be made at home thanks to our “Sacramento Eats: Recipes from the Capital Region’s Favorite Restaurants.”
This is a cookbook I wrote that features images from staff photographers and highlights the best and brightest stars of the local dining scene. The 160-page cookbook features recipes for appetizers, entrees, desserts, drinks and more from 60 Sacramento-area restaurants, not only capturing the range of food here, but also giving you an opportunity to make at home that dish or drink you once savored while dining.
The Rind’s “not your mom’s mac” is one of the cookbook’s side dishes, along with cilantro-lime rice from Zócalo, black-eyed peas from Tori’s Place and grilled asparagus with prosciutto from Mulvaney’s B&L.
“Sacramento Eats” can be purchased for $39.95 at Capital Books, Corti Brothers, Wild Sisters Book Co., Strapping Store and Beers Books in Sacramento, and A Seat at the Table Books (Elk Grove), Ruby’s Books (Folsom), Avid Reader (Davis) and Face in a Book (El Dorado Hills) throughout the region. It’s also carried at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Pediment Publishing.
The Rind’s not your mom’s mac
1801 L St., Suite 40, Sacramento
(916) 441-7463
Time: 1½ hours
Serves 6-8
Description: Sara Arbabian’s midtown restaurant is Sacramento’s home for all things dairy, from exquisite grilled cheese sandwiches to artistically-arranged boards of gouda and chèvre. If there’s a star dish at The Rind, it’s the fancified macaroni and cheese, rich and encrusted in a layer of gratin. Make it as a cookout side, or add some ham or prosciutto and call it a hearty weeknight dinner. Get your pasta water boiling first, then get started making the béchamel, a French “mother sauce” that provides macaroni and cheese’s creamy texture.
Chef’s notes: There’s no fancy pasta barrier that would prevent home cooks from preparing this recipe. The Rind uses Barilla’s Campanelle noodles, bellflower-shaped beauties that can be found at most grocery stores.
INGREDIENTS
12 ounces sharp white cheddar, shredded
12 ounces young gruyere (aged 4 months), shredded
12 ounces Parmigiano Reggiano, shredded
20 ounces dry pasta of choice
2 slices sourdough bread
1 ¾ tablespoons fresh parsley
1 ⅔ tablespoons fresh thyme
2 ⅓ tablespoons fresh oregano
4 cups whole milk
¼ yellow onion, diced
¼ shallot, diced
1 bay leaf
2 whole cloves
1 stick butter
1 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ tablespoon kosher salt
⅓ teaspoon ground nutmeg
⅓ teaspoon ground white pepper
½ tablespoon Tapatio hot sauce
DIRECTIONS
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to package directions, removing and straining it when al dente.
- In a stockpot, melt butter on medium-high heat. Add the onion, shallot, cloves and bay leaf. Heat until slightly softened and translucent.
- Add flour using a large whisk. Cook flour down until bubbly to create a roux, about 5 minutes.
- Slowly add ¼ of the cold milk to the hot roux, whisking it in. Continue whisking until thickened. Repeat by adding another ¼ of the milk. Continue to add milk in small batches until milk comes to temperature and béchamel is thickened, whisking all the while.
- Lower heat to medium-low and cook for an additional 15-20 minutes. Season with Tapatio, nutmeg, salt and white pepper to taste.
- Strain mixture through a Chinois into a heat-safe container. Pour back into the pot. Add shredded cheese in small batches on medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue to add shredded cheese until all is incorporated.
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour cooked noodles into a Pyrex container or baking dish of choice. Slowly pour cheese sauce over and mix well.
- Bake pasta for 15 minutes or until just before bubbling. While pasta is baking, toast sourdough slices in the oven for 5-10 minutes. Remove and blend in a food processor with parsley, thyme and oregano. Remove the pasta and finish it with your bread crumb mixture, then serve.
This story was originally published November 22, 2023 at 5:00 AM.