Two of my earlier, fonder recollections of food are grilled cheese sandwiches and macaroni and cheese. No doubt both were made with Velveeta, a pasteurized cheese product which was de rigeur in the 50s and 60s.
Grilled cheese is still a favorite dish and is regularly on the menu for our Sunday Night/Sandwich Nights. Now, though, the sandwiches are made with a cave-aged Gruyere or perhaps a Comte, real cheeses made from milk, salt and little else.
Lately, cheese has been featured in several meals.
Pasta with Walnuts, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Cream. This is an old stand-by from Patricia Wells, my pasta-making guru, and made with ingredients usually in the pantry. The walnuts are first roasted and then blended with cream and a small amount of garlic. That sauce is mixed with the cooked pasta and then freshly-grated cheese is added and gently tossed. Sometimes Wells' pasta recipes state "Cover and let rest for 1 minute to allow the pasta to absorb the sauce," but for this dish she advises "…serve immediately, passing the pepper mill."
Sandwiches with Roast Beef and Stilton. What a traditional and unbeatable combination…and a perfect accompaniment to the Super Bowl. I spread thick slices of good bread with mayonnaise, added generous slices of meat (real roast beef–not lunch meat) and cheese and topped with a handful of baby greens. The scrumptious sandwich was served with pickles, chips and cold beer.
Salad of Roquefort, Walnuts and Baby Greens. This recipe is from another Patricia Wells' cookbook and has similar ingredients to the pasta dish (very handy!). The dressing is a refreshing blend of Roquefort, cream, lemon juice and pepper. The greens are tossed in the bowl with the dressing and then nuts and additional cheese are sprinkled on top.
Scrambed Eggs with Cream Cheese and Fines Herbes. If you deem cream cheese plebian, you are missing a wonderful cheese. This is my own riff on a Shellagh Connelly (talented chef of the now defunct Mildred Pierce Café in St. Paul) recipe called Luxury Scrambled Eggs. Cream cheese is rich and luscious when paired with softly scrambled eggs and delicate, fresh herbs.
*** In fact, Velveeta, although it does contain milk, is barely cheese. Look at these ingredients: milk, water, milkfat, whey, whey protein concentrate, sodium phosphate, milk protein concentrate, alginate, sodium citrate, apocarotenal (color), annatto (color), enzymes, cheese culture.
Plus remember those big, foil-wrapped rectangles? Kraft manufactured Velveeta by heating those ingredients until liquified, packaging and then cooling.
