Broccoli Mac and Cheese and Pan-Cooked Salmon

This week I decided to make Baked Macaroni and Cheese (pg. 508) and Pan-Cooked Salmon (pg. 580) from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.

The Baked Macaroni and Cheese called for:

• Salt
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 2 Bay leaves
• 1 pound cut pasta
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups grated cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• ground black pepper
• 1/2 cups bread crumbs

First I heat the oven to 400F . Then I brought a large pot of water to a boil and salted it for the pasta. I decided to use spiral pasta. 

I decided to make Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese, so I cut up some broccoli and then blanched it. 

Then I heated the milk with bay leaves in a small saucepan. After about five minutes I turned off the heat. 

In another pot, I melted the butter. When it was melted, I added the flour. When the mixture was brown, I removed the bay leaves from the milk and poured some milk into the butter-flour mixture. I gradually added more milk until all the milk was used and the mixture was thick and smooth. 

I then added the cheddar. 

I then added the broccoli. 

While this was happening, I added the pasta to the boiling water. 

When the pasta was ready I poured it into a glass baking pan. Then I poured the cheese mixture over it and mixed them together. 

I then mixed the Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper into it, and topped it with bread crumbs. After that, I put it in the oven to bake. 

To make it a meal, I made Pan-Cooked Salmon. I had made this before using Bittman's recipe, so I didn't even look up the recipe.

The Pan-Cooked Salmon called for:

• Salmon
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil

I put olive oil in a large pan. Then I salted/peppered the salmon. I then cooked the Salmon. Very easy!

 It turned out very good. I must admit though that my favorite part of the meal was the salmon. The baked mac and cheese came out a little dry. It turned out really good in class though, so maybe I need to make more cheese sauce next time.