I know. The name alone is enough to make one cringe. Cheeseburger Mac and Cheese? I'm sure you're thinking of that god awful boxed meal that you can buy for 1$ (Hint: it rhymes with shamburger shelper)..
But this is a whole other ballgame! Think of a deconstructed cheeseburger with caramelized onions tossed with some macaroni noodles and then accept it and start cooking.
The picture I posted has no mini patties because, well, my first try with the patties didn't work out so well..But I've readjusted and will post a better picture soon!
What You'll Need:
1 pound of elbow macaroni noodles (or whatever type of small shaped pasta really)
1 pound of ground sirloin
1 egg slightly beaten
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
1/4 cup of yellow mustard
1/4 cup of ketchup
1 tbsp of montreal steak seasoning (I've heard taco seasoning works well too, but..eck.)
2 tbsp of flour
2 cups of milk
2 cups of medium or sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 yellow onion cut in half rings to caramelize
1 tbsp of sugar
4 tbsp of unsalted stick butter
salt and pepper to taste
4 medium sized tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
5 medium sized dill pickles chopped
Preheat your oven to 400 F.
Start a large pot of boiling salted water for your noodles.
Meanwhile, mix the ground sirloin, beaten egg, breadcrumbs, mustard and ketchup, and montreal seasoning together. Might as well use your hands to get it thoroughly mixed. Once that's happened, set about shaping them into mini hamburger patties by grabbing a teaspoon of the meat mixture, rolling it into a ball, and then flattening it onto a cookie sheet. Continue doing that until all of your meat is gone and your smiling to yourself thinking about how cute your mini hamburger patties look. Oh I'm the only one that does that? Hm. Moving on. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until the mini patties are cooked through, then transfer to a paper-towel lined plate to soak up the grease.
While you're waiting for the mini patties to bake, go ahead and start caramelizing the onions because it does take a minute. Using a large nonstick skillet, melt the butter and salt the bottom before adding the half sliced onion rings. Let it sit for a few minutes before stirring because you want to brown them. after 10 minutes, add the sugar and continue to cook it over medium heat until it has become brown and gooey, the goal is to caramelize, not burn so make sure you're stirring it frequently. If the onions get too dry, add more butter. Once the onions are caramelized, transfer them to a medium saucepan and turn the heat to medium and sprinkle the flour over them, cooking off the flour taste for 1 minute. Add the milk, salt and pepper, and let thicken, stirring every so often for about 5 minutes. Take it off the heat and stir in the shredder cheese until it's all melted.
By this time your water should be good and boiling so dump the macaroni in and cook until its al dente. Drain and return to pot, dump in the cheese sauce and mini hamburgers and stir until everything is well mixed. Add the tomatoes and pickles in and stir it all together if you want or just sprinkle them on each plate you serve, whatever tickles your fancy!
Enjoy!
Serves 4-6
Can I please just put a small disclaimer here? Thank ya very much. I am uploading all of my pictures from my phone, so this isn't the best picture quality. I swear I'll start taking pictures with a real digital camera if people actually enjoy this blog..
That looks BOMB!!
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