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Popularized and enjoyed frequently by Thomas Jefferson, baked macaroni and cheese manages to be one of the most supremely comforting and filling dishes there is.
However, with a few culinary tweaks and additional ingredients, the humble mac and cheese is more than ready to crossover from comfort food to the gourmet.
Below are five easy to make recipes for gourmet macaroni and cheese, from the recent winners of 2008 Tillamook Macaroni and Cheese Recipe Contest (as well as two recipes I submitted to the contest)…enjoy!
Grand Prize Winner: Caramelized Sweet Potato, Garlic & Rosemary Macaroni & Cheese by Angie Phillips of Tarzana, California.
First Runner Up: Tillamook Triple-Play Macaroni & Six Cheese Strata by Kathi Jones Del-Monte of Rochester, New York.
Second Runner Up: Tillamook Macaroni & Cheese Chile Relleno Pie by Rhonda Allen of Lake Oswego, Oregon.
People’s Choice Award: Cornbread Topped Apple Macaroni and Cheese by Melissa LaCaille of Kirkland, Washington.
Widmer Brothers Choice Award: Smokey Black Pepper Cheese and Macaroni with Wild Mountain Chanterelles by Catherine Wilkinson from Dewey, Arizona.
My Two Tilamook Recipe Contest Submissions (With Links to Their Recipes)
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- Fried Okra Mac and Cheese Recipe
November 13th, 2008 at 2:13 am
Who would have thought such inventiveness could have been insired by good ol’ mac n cheese?!
November 13th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Amazing that such a simple dish, can be made so wonderful.
November 13th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Oh man. What I wouldn’t give to be a judge for this contest! Thanks for all the great links.
+Jessie
a.k.a. The Hungry Mouse
November 13th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Wow - mac n cheese gets a major upgrade! I especially love the one with the caramelized sweet potato rosemary and garlic. Yum!
November 13th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I entered this! These are all so creative! YUM!
November 13th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
What a great variety of mac n cheese recipes! And I love your submissions, esp. the mac-a-rita! We’re having a comfort food recipe contest and would love to have you enter your recipe (only one per person). Recipes can be submitted to MarxFood.com. The prize is a $250 GC to MarxFoods.com
November 13th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Oh wow. So many variations of one basic dish. You outdo yourself. Well done.
November 14th, 2008 at 3:28 am
I have a killer recipe myself, so I’m actually going to try my hand at the grand prize winner’s recipe. Great entry.