Buffalo Mac and Cheese! Yep, that's as creative as we're getting today.

So let's chat, real quickly, about rain in Boston.  I've spent the past two days trying to find a polite and eloquent way of phrasing what I want to say here, but alas, I've been defeated by the unattested awfulness of the rain in this city.  Some things I don't understand about Boston and it's relationship with the rain/ weather in New England:

a. why did we build and entire city, located within the depths of New England (where, if you've forgotten, it rains, snows, sleets and ices) completely out of bricks?
b. why does it only rain during your commute to work?
c. and why does it rain the hardest during your commute to work when you are carrying 26 pounds of pasta for a potluck lunch at work?

If you can answer those questions reasonably, we'll chat.  But since it's impossible, I'll just let you know that the cause for this current rant is that lovely letter c we discussed above. 

So there I was, walking down Huntington Avenue, my khakis rolled up, rain beating down on my lack of raincoat/ umbrella/ rain boots/ and appropriate non-flip-flop shoe attire, carrying somewhere around 10 pounds of buffalo macaroni and cheese.  Failure to thrive.  Did I get a seat on the T?  No, of course not.  Did I slip and almost fall on 5 seperate occasions. Of course I did.  But do I have any regrets that I went through all of this trouble to bring my co-workers homemade buffalo macaroni and cheese?  Yeah, of course I do (no offense guys)!  Thanks a lot mother nature-- awesome that you decided to deliver us three consecutive days of the worst fall weather ever, but my buffalo mac and cheese and I don't appreciate it. 

But bitterness aside, we should probably get to making this.  I've made this two different ways, the most recent being the way I liked least.  So, I'm going to show you pictures from this time that I made this but provide you with directions from the last time!  It's going to make a significant amount less than what's pictures, because unless you need to feed a healthy sized portion of the marine corps, then making this amount is not only excessive but also stupid... almost as stupid as carrying this amount, through the pouring rain, wearing flip flops, to your work luncheon.



for the buffalo chicken part...
3 pieces of thin cut chicken
1/2 cup buffalo sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste


for the mac and cheese part...
1 lb (this equals on box for those of you who can't read pasta boxes) of Medium Shells
2 tbs of butter
1 1/2 cups of milk
1/2 block of pepper jack cheese, cut into small, thin blocks
1/2 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup buffalo sauce (I use KC Masterpiece Buffalo Sauce)
1 small bundle of chopped scallions (green onions)
Salt and Pepper to taste


how do we do this thing?
1  Using a fork, poke holes in the chicken.  Cut into bite sized pieces, and marinate in a ziplock baggie with buffalo sauce, salt and pepper.  Allow chicken to marinate for at least 30 minutes before cooking, overnight for most tasty results.
2  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prepare pasta as directed on box, and after straining, add to a 9x13 baking pan and mix with butter.  Add shredded pepper jack and cheddar cheeses to pasta and mix.  Add the cubed pepper jack cheese and chicken pieces, spreading the pieces out around the pan and nestling them right in there with the pasta.  Note: cooking the chicken ahead of time will cause it to overcook and dry out.  If you like dry, flavorless chicken, then that's the route for you.  But if you're a human, don't cook the chicken first!
3  Pour milk evenly over pasta (you should see it settle to the bottom of the pan).  Drizzle the buffalo sauce over the pasta , cheese and milk mixture.  
4  Top with mozzarella cheese and breadcrumbs and bake in oven for 25 minutes.  If you want the top to get crispier, throw under the broiler on low for about one minute.  

                                             Before                                                   After

5  When this awesomeness is finished cooking, top with scallions and serve immediately so that it's super piping hot and all cheesy melty.  Yes, that's a professional term.  


Now, buffalo macaroni and cheese might sound confusing and as thought it might not be awesome.  I'm not going to directly mention any names here, but one of my co-workers, Brooke, had some pretty firm doubts regarding whether or not this could even be remotely edible.  Well, consider those outlandish doubts demolished.  This is delicious and like nothing you've ever gotten from a box so go make it right now!  Or later.  That's fine too!  

Happy Weekend!  :)