Potroast Mac-n-Cheese

I have 3 favorite comfort foods...Potroast (specifically, Beef Bourguignon, but potroast is so much easier to say and it's basically the French version of potroast on steroids, so I call it potroast anyway), Chicken and Pastry and Mac-n-Cheese...usually in that order. Sometimes Chicken and Pastry loses to Mac-n-Cheese, but a good potroast is always on top. 

A while back, I was at Houlihan's and they had Potroast Mac-n-Cheese as a special. My thoughts were that it could either be amazing or horrible. I decided to give it a shot. Ummmmm...amazing for sure!!!

I made Beef Bourguignon late last week and I had some leftovers. I decided to give the Potroast Mac-n-Cheese a shot at home. I don't regret it one bit. We had it for dinner last night and I probably just had a little bit more for lunch. 

Anyway, I like this meal so much because you really can make it your own. Use your favorite of each recipes and just marry them. Here's what I do...

For the Beef Bourguignon, the only difference I make is I leave the frozen pearl onions out and I add more regular onions. I made it with the pearl onions the first time I ever tried this recipe. While I will admit that it was prettier, I did not enjoy biting into the pearl onions. This recipe is a little labor intensive, but you get to catch stuff on fire, so it's totally worth all the effort. It makes a fair amount, so you'll probably have leftovers anyway. It does freeze well, so you can always freeze half for later!

For the mac-n-cheese, I don't really use a recipe. I have a recipe in mind, but I don't measure the cheese. I just keep adding until it tastes the way I want it. This is the recipe I keep in mind. The mustard adds a little extra tang that I love. 

When I'm making potroast mac-n-cheese, I do things slightly different. I like to warm the potroast in the microwave then add it to the cheese sauce. I add that to the pasta and stir it all in. You can top it with panko and bake it, but last night I was lazy and hungry, so after I mixed it all in, we ate it as is. It was still amazing. 

*** Note - One thing I do keep consistent with mac-n-cheese - I use Rotini. I love how the cheese oozes inside the little corkscrews. I'm not hating on elbows, they're just fine...they just don't hoard the cheese like rotini does. ***