Alpine Macaroni and Gruyere with Creme Fraiche

One can never have enough macaroni and cheese.  And by one, I am of course referring to myself.  I enjoyed the "Roasted Green Chile and Tomatillo Mac and Cheese" but did not find the silky creaminess I was hoping for.  I decided to crack open Macaroni & Cheese by Marlena Spieler once again in pursuit of creamy stovetop perfection.  The picture for "Alpine Macaroni and Appenzeller with Creme Fraiche," the first recipe in the book, stopped me immediately (see it on the right). It looks totally creamy and delicious, right?  Like the blue box, only fancy 'cause it has Creme Fraiche in it :)



Fixins:

• 12 oz small elbow macaroni
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 10 to 12 oz Appenzeller, Emmenthal, Gruyere, or Comte cheese, shredded.  I could only find Gruyere at my local supermarket
• 4 oz creme fraiche
• A grating of fresh nutmeg
• Salt & black pepper to taste
• 2 to 3 Tbs unsalted butter

Cook the pasta, drain, and reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid.  Toss the hot pasta with the chopped garlic, chopped shallot, shredded cheese, and the rest of the ingredients.  Add the cooking liquid little by little until the pasta is coated.

Result:

Hello creamy!  Now there you are :)  While this dish is nice and creamy, the sauce had to get pretty thin to get that creamy.  It is also important to note that the garlic, shallot, and nutmeg are all very powerful flavors and really serve to cut through the Swiss-cheese flavor of the Gruyere.  The result was something with a bit more punch than I had anticipated.

Repeat:

Possibly, yes.  Next time perhaps I'll saute the shallots and garlic ahead of time for a less tangy flavor profile and to hopefully let the cheese stand out a bit more.  I recently found out that a nearby store, The Meat House, has a really great cheese selection, so I plan on stopping by the next time I make this for the Appenzeller.  All in all, it was a good dish, though I think it is better suited to autumn than summer.

The Gruyere in this recipe was all well and good, but I prefer cheddar in my mac & cheese.  What cheese do you like?