Two Catalan Macaronis

Wotchers!

I frequently wander about the odd corners of t’Internet in search of, as Winnie the Pooh so eloquently put it, “a little smackerel of something”, and I happened upon the EL COMIDISTA YouTube channel. Presented by the twinkly-eyed Mikel López Iturriaga, the channel regularly posts videos on a range of food-related topics. It is in Spanish, but the auto-translated subtitles are excellent, and the delightful humour of the host really comes through well.

The video that caught my eye detailed two Catalan versions of macaroni with cheese, each with origins in the past. Both recipes are signature dishes  for the restaurants where they are served.

I like these recipes because they are both a take on a familiar dish (macaroni cheese), but each one has it’s own little twist. There’s the comfort of the familiar, with enough personality to provide variation without straying too far from the original.

The first is by chef Carles Gaig, and is his version of a recipe he found in a mid-nineteenth century cookery book entitled “La Cuyana Catalan” (The Catalan Kitchen), called “The Cardinal’s Macaroni” (Macarrones di Cardinal). Penne pasta is layered with a rich parmesan cream sauce, grilled meat, a tomato and onion reduction, topped with cheese and baked/grilled until toasted and bubbling. This is a rather rich dish, probably as befitting a cardinal, and at the restaurant is made to order for each serving. I’m going to tweak things a little and make it a one-dish, family-style recipe.

The second is from La Cuina d’En Garriga, owned by Helena Garriga and her husband Olivier Guilland, and is a recipe passed down by Olivier’s mother. It is more of an ‘all in one’ dish, with a novel method of cooking the pasta.

The video linked above shows the preparation of both. As I was frantically making notes, I got stuck on what exactly the grilled meat used in both recipes was, and the online translators were making no sense, so I decided to look up the original Cardinal’s Macaroni recipe. That became an additional challenge until I ended up translating from Occitan (via Spanish and Catalan) and discovered that it was cured pork cheek, aka guanciale.

In a move likely to elicit gasps of shock and awe – and if you’re that way inclined, possibly affrontage –  I’m going to be substituting bacon lardons for the guanciale, because that is what is easy to acquire in deepest, darkest West Midlands. You could also use ham, or whatever cured meat you prefer. I’ve tried these with chorizo, and while delicious, I thought the richness/fattiness a bit much for my tastes. Feel free to experiment.

I’ve made each of these with gluten-free pasta/bread and they’re just as delicious as the regular versions.

The Cardinal’s Macaroni

This recipe is both simple yet rich. There’s a little preparation needed before assembling, but none of it is difficult, and all can be prepared the day before if preferred. The cheesy pasta is augmented with pockets of a rich tomato sauce and the crisped and salty bacon, making for a potential combination of different flavours with each mouthful.

Garnishes
125g bacon lardons, smoked if liked
2 brown onions, chopped fine
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
salt and pepper

Cheese Sauce
600ml single cream
150g grated Parmesan
salt and pepper

Pasta
300g macaroni or other favourite pasta

Topping
50g grated Parmesan

1. Cook the bacon in a small pan until the fat has rendered. Lift out the bacon pieces and set aside.
2. Add the onions to the pan with the bacon fat and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Fry gently until well browned. This will take around 30 minutes.
3. Puree the tinned tomatoes  with a stick blender and then strain through a sieve. Add to the caramelised onions and cook slowly until most of the liquid has evaporated and the colour has darkened. Taste and add salt and pepper as preferred. Set aside.
4. Put the cream into a pan and heat gently.
5. Add the Parmesan and stir until the cheese has melted. Do  not let it boil. Use your stick blender to ensure the mixture is smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Cook the pasta according to the instructions, erring on the longer end of cooking times – pasta was enjoyed with less of a bite ‘back then’. Also, you want your dish to be creamy with the cheese sauce, and not absorb moisture from it.
7. Heat the oven to 200°C, 180°C Fan.
8. Butter a suitable oven dish. I suggest 30cm x 20cm or similar.
9. Put 1/3 of the pasta in the bottom of the dish.
10. Dot over half the tomato mixture and half of the lardons. Drop 1/4 of the sauce into the gaps in spoonfuls.
11. Cover with half of the remaining pasta, and repeat dropping the remaining tomato mixture and lardons. Spoon 1/3 of the remaining sauce into the gaps.
12. Add the rest of the pasta in a top layer and spoon over the remaining sauce.
13. Bake in the oven until heated through – around 20 minutes.
14. Switch the oven to high grill heat.
15. Sprinkle the remaining Parmesan cheese over the top of the dish and grill until browned and bubbling.
16. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

En Garriga Macaroni

This recipe lacks the ‘precision’ of The Cardinal’s Macaroni, and is very much a family recipe, very much a ‘one-pot, throw everything together and bake it’ vibe. I thought it interesting because of the way the pasta is cooked: in the minimum of liquid, and only half the active cooking time. I get the sense it’s a ‘get the food on the table as quick as possible’ recipe. The only fly in my ointment of provenance is the need for caramelised onions, which, as we all know, take much longer than a lot of t’Internet would try and have you believe. The answer to this is to always have some caramelised onions in the fridge ready to spice up your recipes at a moment’s notice; over-cater when caramelising onions, and store the excess, so that you can enjoy them instantly.

126g bacon lardons, smoked if liked
1 brown onion, chopped
1 slice of bread

250g macaroni or other favourite pasta
300ml water
300ml single cream
300ml milk
200g Comte cheese, grated – divided

6-8 slices wafer thin ham for the top
50g Grana Padano cheese, grated

• Use your pasta saucepan to fry the bacon. Lift the bacon pieces out and reserve.
• Fry the onions in the bacon fat until browned and caramelised. This will take at least 30 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside when done.
• Toast the bread and allow to cool completely. When cold, blitz to breadcrumbs in a food processor.
• Pour the water into the pan the onions were cooked in and bring to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook for HALF the recommended cooking time – probably no more than 5 minutes.
• While the macaroni is cooking, pour the cream and the milk into a pan and bring to a gentle simmer.
• When the short cooking time is up, pour the cream mixture into the pan containing the pasta and the water. Switch off the heat. Stir, then cover and allow to swell for 10 minutes.
• Heat the oven to 200°C, 180°C Fan.
• Butter a suitable oven dish. I suggest 30cm x 20cm or similar.
• Stir the pasta and then add in 100g of the cheese, the caramelised onion, the bacon and the breadcrumbs. Stir again until well combined.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared dish and smooth over.
• Bake until heated through – 10-15 minutes.
• Switch the oven to high grill heat.
• Sprinkle the remaining Comte over the pasta, as well as the Parmesan. You have a choice with what to do with the sliced ham: either lay the thin slices of ham over the top and grill until the cheese has melted and the ham has crisped, OR grill the dish until browned, then lay the ham over the hot cheese and have it almost melt onto the top. This option probably works best if you splash out on wafer thin slices of Jamón Ibérico.
• Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.