KFC® Macaroni & Cheese
Here's a clone for another of KFC's famous side dishes.
We'll use easy-to-melt Velveeta, with its very smooth
texture, as the main ingredient for the cheese sauce.
Then a bit of cheddar cheese is added to give the sauce
a sharp cheddary zing like the original. It's a very simple
recipe that will take only 15 minutes to prepare. That's
great news if you're a lazy cook like me who wants to dig right
into the tasty vittles. Weeell doggies!
6 cups water
1 1/3 cups elbow macaroni
4 ounces Velveeta cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons whole milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1. Bring water to a boil over high heat in a medium saucepan.
Add elbow macaroni to the water and cook it for 10 to 12 minutes
or until tender, stirring occasionally.
2. While the macaroni is boiling, prepare the cheese sauce by
combining the remaining ingredients in a small saucepan over
low heat. Stir often as the cheese melts into a smooth consistency.
3. When the macaroni is done, strain it and then pour it back into
the same pan, without the water.
4. Add the cheese sauce to the pan and stir gently until the
macaroni is well coated with the cheese. Serve immediately while hot.
Makes about 3 servings.
Baked French Onion Soup
Don't even try to find this one on the menu at Applebee's,
because it isn't there; though it's the most popular soup
served each day at this huge restaurant chain. This is the
first of several big-time soup clones we'll unveil here in
the next few weeks to help get you through the cold winter
months. And they're all a cinch to make. Just be sure you
have some oven-safe soup bowls for this one, since we'll
have to broil it a bit before serving. Under the gooey
melted provolone of the original version you get from A
pplebee's is a unique round crouton that's made from bread
similar to a hamburger bun. So that's exactly what we'll use
in our clone.
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 medium white onions, sliced
8 cups beef broth (Swanson is best)
1 cup water
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
5 plain hamburger buns
10 slices provolone cheese
10 teaspoons shredded parmesan cheese
1. Add 3 tablespoons oil to a large soup pot or saucepan
over medium/high heat. Add the sliced onions and sauté
for 20 minutes until the onions begin to soften and start
to become translucent. You don't want them to brown.
2. Add the beef broth, water, salt, garlic powder and
black pepper to the pan and bring mixture to a boil.
When soup begins to boil, reduce heat and simmer for
45 minutes.
3. To make the croutons cut off the top half of each top
of the hamburger bun so that the bread is the same thickness
as the bottom half of each bun. Throw the tops away. Now you
should have 10 round pieces of bread -- 5 bottom buns, and 5
top buns with the tops cut off. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Place the bread in the the oven directly on the rack and bake
for 15 to 20 minutes or until each piece is golden brown
and crispy. Set these croutons aside until you need them.
4. When the soup is done, spoon about 1 cup into an oven-safe
bowl. Float a crouton on top of the soup, then place a slice
of provolone cheese on top of the crouton. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon
of shredded parmesan cheese over the provolone.
5. Place the bowl into your oven set to high broil. Broil the
soup for 5 to 6 minutes or until the cheese is melted and
starting to brown (you may need to broil longer if you are
making more than one bowl at a time). Sprinkle an additional
1/2 teaspoon of shredded parmesan cheese over the top of the
soup and serve. Repeat process to prepare remaining servings.
Makes 10 servings.