Dinner DeeAs recipes: Mac & Cheese (& Short Ribs too!)
Southern Comfort: Seven Cheese Soul Food
Forget what you know about Mac & Cheese—this is Cheese & Mac. A rule breaking return guest shares the secrets to her most iconic comfort food duo.
Where the flavor resides! 🧀🍖 In this high-energy episode of Dinner DeeAs, we welcome back the legendary Miss Maria Rumlin, owner of Tampa’s M&R Café Southern Cuisine. Miss Maria is a "rule breaker" in the kitchen, and today she’s sharing the secrets to her most iconic comfort food duo.
On the Menu Today:
7-Cheese "Cheese & Mac": Forget what you know about Mac & Cheese—this is Cheese & Mac. Miss Maria uses a blend of SEVEN cheeses, including Smoked Gouda, Velveeta, and Mozzarella, to create a string-pull that goes off-camera!
Slow-Braised Beef Short Ribs: Seared to perfection with her signature "Petty Chef" beef seasoning, then braised for three hours in red wine, beef broth, and ten cloves of garlic until they are effortless to pull apart with a fork.
Miss Maria’s Flavor Secrets:
- The "Petty Chef" Seasoning: Discover the proprietary blend of herbs, onion powder, and garlic that Miss Maria uses to lock in the flavor of her meats.
- The Roux Technique: Learn the "Southern Technique" for a perfect Mac & Cheese base using butter, flour, and half-and-half.
- The Sugar Trick: Why Miss Maria adds a pinch of sugar to her macaroni to balance the salty bitterness of the sharp cheeses.
- The Flour Slurry Gravy: How to transform your braising liquid into a rich, light gravy using a simple flour and water mixture.
Last time Maria was here she shared her marvelous Meatloaf recipe.
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See Dinner DeeAs every weekday at 1p on Fox 13 Tampa Bay and 7a on FOX 35 Plus in Orlando.
Mac & Cheese
Ingredients
- 16 oz elbow noodles
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- ½ stick butter
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup flour
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups half-and-half
- 6 cups cheese of your choice (Miss Maria used different types of cheddar, mozzarella, Gouda and her secret weapon: Velveeta!)
- 1 tsp parsley
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
Directions
- Boil noodles in water seasoned with salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder.
- Start cheese roux, in a big pot heat butter and oil, then stir in flour until blended.
- Let rest, then stir in heavy cream and half-and-half.
- After mix begins to get hot, stir in cheese blend. Use whatever cheese you like. As cheese melts, season roux to your liking.
- As sauce begins to smooth out, turn burner to medium and then low- so as not to burn sauce.
- Drain noodles, add to mixing bowl then add cheese sauce and mix well.
- Build Mac & Cheese by alternating layers of noodles with extra cheese.
- Top with more cheese and parsley, smoked paprika, black pepper and garlic powder.
- Bake for 20–30 minutes at 375 °F, until bubbling on top with a brown crust.
Beef Short Ribs
Ingredients
- 1 lb beef short ribs
- Petty Chef Beef Seasoning (available online, or substitute your own seasoning of choice)
- extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup mushrooms, chopped
- 4–5 slices raw onion
- 1 cup green and red bell peppers, diced
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 3 stems fresh thyme
- 6 oz can tomato paste
- ½ bottle red wine
- 32 oz beef broth
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 7–8 garlic cloves
- 1–2 tsp sugar
- 1–2 tsp onion powder
- 1–2 tsp garlic powder
- ¼ cup flour
- ½ cup water
Ingredients
- Wash short ribs in lemon and vinegar (optional) and season.
- Heat oil in dutch oven and sear both sides of meat until golden brown. Once done, remove and reserve.
- Using same dutch oven, add in and sauté the following, one by one: mushrooms, onion slices, bell peppers, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, tomato paste, red wine, beef broth, chicken broth and garlic cloves.
- Add short ribs back to dutch oven, stir in. Add sugar, onion powder and garlic powder and stir to combine.
- Cover with lid and cook for 3 hours in oven at 375 °F.
- When done, remove from oven and make gravy.
- In bowl, mix together flour and water until blended. Add to short ribs in dutch oven and stir to combine.
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