Mac-N-Cheese Matrimony
Strange as this may sound, but Ben’s four cheese macaroni is somewhat of a wedding staple. Last year we had the honor of cooking the rehearsal dinner for a couple of our best friends Mark & Jane on the beautiful beach of Fripp Island in South Carolina. It was an amazing night. 60 of their friends and family had traveled from all over the country to be there, so no pressure right? We successfully pulled it off- no food poisoning; no one went hungry; and everyone loved the stick to your ribs mac & cheese. So, November rolls around, and we figure, “If we can cook for 60 we can totally handle 120, right?” That’s what pretty much happened. A friend of Ben’s was shopping for a caterer do to her wedding reception that followed a destination wedding in the Bahamas. Ben writes up a menu featuring the mac & cheese, and it’s done- we’re cooking for 120ish. I have to tell you that never in my life had I ever felt like we were more “in the weeds” than that night, but we made it through- marriage in tact (our marriage that is), guests with full bellies, happy bride & groom that were even happier that there was mac & cheese that they’d be able to offer to family & friends staying in town with them. And that leads me to our latest newlyweds, our wonderful friends and neighbors, Bill & Sarah. We began talking about their rehearsal dinner way before we were even asked to do it, and a month before the date, they popped the question to us, “Will you, Ben and Kim, cook our rehearsal dinner?” We said, “Yes!” The guest list was petite consisting of the wedding party and the Foodies. Sarah’s sister Emily hosted the dinner at her home giving Ben and I free reign over her kitchen and grill. The menu consisted of French potato salad with new potatoes & hariots verts, a bountiful mixed green salad with a mixture of in season produce, a few tenderloins of pork and beef served with an arugala salad and horseradish sauce served on fresh rolls, homemade ice box cookie ice cream sandwiches, and of course the mac & cheese. The thing that we’d like to let you know is that Sarah is a vegetarian, and we offered to create a special dish just for her, but she declined having sampled the mac & cheese previously saying that the mac & cheese would be perfect for her. So this is our tribute to our wonderful friends that have given us the honor of feeding their loved ones during the most memorable times in their lives- we give you the sacred recipe for Ben’s four cheese macaroni.
