Rarebit was our family favorite for years. I simply forgot about it in the flurry of life until this past week. I opened one of my favorite cookbooks looking for some inspiration and found an easy recipe for cheese sauce. Knowing I had all the ingredients on hand, I was inspired to make rarebit once again! And all my picky eaters were delighted!
Hand's down this is the best go-to cookbook I've ever owned for solid, straight-forward, high-quality recipes. The editors test every ingredient and tool before writing the recipe, thus the name America's Test Kitchen. Excellent results every time. The flip side is that there isn't any fun flair or flavors so you have to add your own twists. Which I do, of course.
Rarebit is a dish served with savoury cheese sauce over other scrumptious hot food items. Our favorites are ham, english muffins, and eggs although other recipes call for different types of wheat breads or breakfast meats.
Here's how this stacks up (literally!):
Meal Instruction Overview:
Toast the english muffins then keep them warm in the oven or in a covered bowl. Make the cheese sauce then have the kids help cook the eggs while you warm up sliced ham in a skillet.
Serve alongside fresh fruit, steamed veggies, or hash browned potatoes.
English Muffins:
Split the english muffins open and toast these on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees after spraying with Pam. You want them crunchy and golden but not hard. (We used sourdough baguettes - everything is better with sourdough!)
30 Second Microwave Eggs:
Hey, don't judge me. I have to work fast and this is a great way to include my kids in the cooking process.
*Health Tip - Unless we are serving lots of guests or hard boiling eggs for Easter, I prefer to use Wilcox eggs or other local cage free eggs as the flavor is better and the nutrients are far superior to regular supermarket eggs. Really, if you buy 4 dozen eggs a month and spend $1 more on each dozen for good quality eggs, it's only $4 a month. That's less than a drive-thru coffee, large bag of chips, or case of pop and benefits the entire family.
Crack open one egg at a time into a bowl and check for any shells. Scramble with a fork. Spray a microwave safe coffee mug with Pam and pour the scrambled egg into the mug. Cover the mug with a napkin and microwave for 20-30 seconds or until it starts to pop. Check to make sure the egg is thoroughly
cooked then gently swirl the mug to loosen the egg from the mug. It's the perfect size for an english muffin! Repeat the process. Keep the eggs warm in a covered dish until you are ready to serve.
Ham:
Slice ham to a size appropriate for topping the toasted muffin and warm in a large saute pan or on a griddle, allowing it to get slightly golden. Keep warm until ready to serve.
The Ultimate Cheddar Cheese Sauce (from America's Test Kitchen)
Refer to the ingredients in the picture above (Ultimate Cheddar Cheese Sauce)
Pour the milk, reserving 1/4 cup, into a sauce pan. Whisk the cornstarch into the reserved milk then add to the milk in the sauce pan. Heat on medium for approximately two minutes until it thickens, stirring constantly. Then carefully whisk in the remaining ingredients.
True to my adventurous nature, I added an extra dash of cayenne, a dash of nutmeg (1/2 tsp?), and a few tablespoons of Pinot Grigio from the cooking cupboard. (This means it was left over from a shindig. I save all wine and use it for cooking, steaming, simmering etc). For this recipe, any Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Blanc, etc would do just fine, adding a slightly different flavor depending on the variety.
Saute on low heat for a couple minutes after adding the wine.
*The sauce tasted fabulous without the wine so if you don't have any on hand or prefer to not cook with alcohol, you'll still be pleased with how easy and yummy this sauce is!
Serve by placing the english muffins, opened on the plate. Layer one slice of ham and egg on each half of the english muffin. Drizzle with hot cheese sauce. Enjoy while hot!
Resources you may enjoy:
*More Rarebit recipes and variations from FoodNetwork.comhttp://www.foodnetwork.com/
*Wine regions in the USA. Click on your state in the sidebar to see a listing of wines in your sub region.
*America's Test Kitchen - Family Cookbook as shown above.
*Christopher Kimball - Not only is he a fantastic cook (America's Test Kitchen / Cooks Illustrated) but the man is a beautiful wordsmith! Dear Charlie is a compilation of letters written to his children. A fantastic and moving read!
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