Jaye asked me to make American food this weekend. At first I had a hard time thinking of a dish that is both vegetarian and truly American in identity. Then it came to me, the mother of all comfort foods, what my mother would make (albeit vegan with cashew “cheese”) to this day if I was visiting and needed a pick me up. Mac’n’Cheese. The debate of stove top vs baked aside, I hail from Ohio and as such I’m a firm believer in the creamy oozing stove top verity. Like the Kraft I so often ate as a kid, and even in my dorm room in culinary school, nothing beats the simple cheese goodness of scratch Mac’n’Cheese. For this particular rendition I opted to use the cheese available in the Austrian market and did not go on a (futile) quest for the more authentic american taste of my childhood (Cleveland's own Great Lakes Cheddar). In the end the cold smoked Austrian MondSeer melted perfectly and added a wonderful complexity of flavor to the dish. A few cracks of pepper over top and it was divine.
-Butler
Both the Mac and this text were and are as cheesy as Butler himself.
-Jaye