Macaroni Cheese

I was looking at the calendar on Monday, and couldn't quite figure out whether it was the 12th or if it was the 19th. This month has really flown by much too fast.

Actually, the whole year has flown by incredibly quickly- I find it hard to believe that it was only a year ago that I was graduating from high school! But the past week has been extremely hectic for me, with a couple of quizzes, essays due for uni, a dance exam and to top it all off, I volunteered for the Australian Dance Festival last weekend! Now, I don't usually talk much about what I do during the week, especially when its unrelated to food, but I want to write about it somewhere incase I ever forget about it- because the festival was simply amazing!! I met many lovely people, even participated in a world record attempt (and managed to hit a little girl in the eye while I was at it....sorry!) and watched many amazing and inspirational performances.

I also managed to dislocate my knee on the weekend (only the day before my dance exam!) so now my knee cap feels like its not attached to my leg and is about to fall off......literally. But I won't scare you with all the gory details! ;)



Of course, the period following such excitement is often filled with feelings of extreme fatigue so it wasn't surprising when I found myself very tired and sleepy at uni for the past two days (though staying up until 2:30 in the morning writing up my psychology report may have something to do with that!). And I mean the extreme type of tired, you know, where you'd rather pretend not to see someone than actually go up to them and start a conversation? (hopefully this isn't only me...)

Luckily, my mid-semester break has just begun and so I've had plenty of rest, but today, I have a super easy recipe- perfect for when you're much too tired to cook anything complex and exciting. I first discovered this recipe when I was in one of my lazy days, but still wanted to make something slightly more interesting than reheated leftovers. I was in a mood for some pasta and I had some yoghurt in the fridge, so this recipe was perfect!


It really can't get much simpler- boil some macaroni and then mix it with salt, yoghurt, cheese and egg yolk! I also cooked some chicken, covered in cubes of bread and extra cheese (because I was too lazy to blend them into crumbs- not exactly the greatest idea!) and baked it for a couple of minutes to make it more exciting.

I couldn't quite imagine what yoghurt and macaroni would taste like, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it worked beautifully! The yoghurt makes for a very creamy sauce, but brings with it a slight salad dresing-like tang which I quite liked. I'll definitely be making this more often in the future when I'm feeling lazy! (perhaps without the baking....)

Macaroni and Cheese
Recipe from Jose Andre
Serves 4

Ingredients
* 1/2 pound (150g) of uncooked elbow macaroni or your favorite pasta- I used about half that amount but kept everything to same to make one large serving for myself)
* 2 cups of Parmesan (or Manchego or whatever you like) cheese grated using a microplane
* 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
* 1 egg yolk
* Extra virgin olive oil as needed
* Salt to taste
* White pepper to taste

1. Boil the pasta according to package directions. Drain.
2. While still hot, toss the pasta with cheese, olive oil, Greek yogurt and the egg yolk.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste.