This was a dish…perhaps I should say concoction…introduced to us by our friend Doug way back when we were all struggling to make ends meet. The original recipe was simply a box of Kraft dinner, with added lima beans, sliced up deli ham and a good dollop of horseradish. When I saw fresh horseradish in the market last week, I reworked the recipe to a more luxurious version. It’s as strange as ever, but it really does taste wonderful.
Bachelor’s Special
serves 4-6
1 cup soy beans (or lima beans)
1/2 cup diced ham
2 Tbsp freshly grated horseradish
500 gr pasta tubes (macaroni, ziti, etc)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup grated mozzerella
1 cup milk
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
salt & pepper to taste
Blanch the soybeans in salted water. Dice the ham. Grate the horseradish.
Boil the pasta until it is al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, prepare a simple white sauce. Melt the butter in a pan and add the flour to form a roux. Slowly pour in the milk (to prevent lumps, it should be heated but I never do that, I just whisk like crazy to break up the lumps). Set aside.
To the drained pasta, add the white sauce, 1 1/2 cups of cheese, ham, beans and horseradish. Season with pepper and salt.
Spoon the mixture into a casserole and top with the remaining cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is browned. (No oven? You can skip the baking, just mix all the cheese into the pasta and allow the dish to sit for a few minutes to melt the cheese, heat the ham and mellow the horseradish.)
Posted by kuri at June 16, 2005 09:48 AM