roxane gay's haitian macaroni & cheese

 Ed note: This is the first in a series I'm calling Writers Eat. Basically, I'm asking writers I admire to share their favorite recipes and/or foods here on Plums in the Icebox. The food will sometimes be tied in with the writer's work, but sometimes not. If you're a writer and you're interested in participating, let me know!

I asked Roxane Gay to be the first writer to participate in this series because she's one of my favorite people on the Internet. She's a badass fiction writer, an extremely dedicated editor of PANK and Bluestem, and she's crazy smart, too. Roxane is also crazy nice and possibly the funniest person on Twitter. We agree on many things, such as the brilliance of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the amazingness of Gone With The Wind. Roxane has a book, Ayiti, coming out in just a few days. You should buy it, but I'll mention now that the book is about Haiti and the Haitian diaspora experience. So, Roxane's recipe is a Haitian macaroni and cheese! I'll let her tell you more about it:

"Haitian" Macaroni & Cheese

"Haitian" Macaroni & Cheese or really, the macaroni & cheese I grew up with that my Haitian mother makes and is indeed made in Haiti but probably has French origins because the base of it is essentially a bechamel. 

Ingredients:

5-6oz of freshly grated Parmesan

1 12oz can of Carnation evaporated milk

1 stick of butter (you can substitute margarine and/or use 1/2 stick of butter or margarine if you want to cut calories)(Ed note: I did use only a half a stick and it worked great.

1 box of the pasta of your choice. (I like medium shells but any adorable pasta (OMG BOWTIES) will work.)

Salt and pepper to taste

1.Boil salted water (not too much salt, you know, just to taste and yes I am terrible at recipes). Add pasta.

2. Cook until all dente or a little softer than that. Remove and drain pasta. Put the pasta back in pot. 

3.Add stick of butter, stirring pasta until the butter melts.

4. Add the can of condensed milk and 2/3 of the shredded parmesan. Mix together. Add black pepper to taste. I use freshly ground and am liberal with the pepper but that's just me. Go with your gut on this.

5.Place this sassy combination (Ed note: sassy combination! I'm laughing out loud) in a glass baking dish. I use those round ones that are the diameter of a pie pan. As you can tell, I am not much in the kitchen so I don't know the fancy terms.

6.Cover the top of the sassy combination by evenly spreading the remaining parmesan. If you're feeling dangerous, sprinkle a pinch of pepper over this.

7.Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese on top is nicely golden browned. This generally takes 30-45 minutes.

8. Eat the most delicious dish ever. 

It's Carrie again. I made this tonight and it was DELICIOUS. I've never cooked with evaporated milk before and I have to say I was a little wary of it, but it made the best sauce! I followed Roxane's lead and was VERY LIBERAL with the black pepper here and it definitely added a nice little kick to the dish. I made two teensy modifications to this by baking it in a cast iron skillet, rather than the glass dish Roxane suggested, and I also sprinkled a little bit of paprika on top before putting it in the oven. For me, it took about 20 minutes to bake, but ovens and pans can vary.

I think this is a great dish for a weeknight dinner now that the weather is getting colder. It's classic comfort food, but this version of mac & cheese is really easy. I've made baked versions of mac & cheese before, and this is easily the best-tasting and the least labor-intensive. Serve it alongside some sauteed greens or maybe some roasted root vegetables.

Please do check out Roxane's book! Her mother, the originator of this recipe, took the photograph that appears on the cover. I should also mention that Roxane's name is spelled with one N. Not TWO Ns! ONE N.