We’re shooting in the dark here.  I ate this dish at the Cheesecake
Factory two weeks ago, on the recommendation of my younger daughter. 
She pledged it would be spectacular.  Her judgment was accurate.

But I have no idea what I’m doing here. The dish we had as an
appetizer was “Fried Mac and Cheese.”  I’m going to take a shot here at
recreating it, but you may fail miserably given my rookie status on this
dish.

First, you’ll want to make a fresh batch of macaroni and cheese.  That’s easy
enough.  Load up some fresh shredded cheddar cheese and mix in with the
macaroni noodles.  Set that aside.

The key, it seems to me, will be the batter and how you fry this up.  Let’s
take a shot.

Get some bread crumbs (not in chunky pieces, but ground finely), several
egg yolks, some milk.  Blend the milk and egg yolks.  Squeeze the mac
and cheese into the size of golf balls.  Dunk in the milk/egg mixture. 
Then roll them heavily in the bread crumbs so they are well-coated.  
I’m guessing a thick coating will be important.

If you have a fryer, throw the balls into it and leave them in until they
are crisp.  If you don’t have a fryer, put a liberal amount of oil in a
frying pan and cook the balls there. Turn them over frequently so
they don’t burn.

Let me know how they turn out.  I haven’t tried this yet, but it’s on the agenda. 
If you want to spice them up, mix some chili powder or Old Chesapeake Bay
seasoning into the batter.  That will give it some extra taste.  I’m
looking forward to the experiment.

My mom made this dish.  It was not a staple of our household, but she served it to our family and sometimes when we had company.  It’s an easy dessert.

Buy some canned pears and vanilla ice cream.  Pour the pears into a sauce
pan and heat over medium, and sprinkle some cinnamon on top.

Once it is all warmed up, you are done.  Put the cinnamon pears in
bowls. Dig some ice cream out, and put a scoop on top.  Let it melt. The ooze is
delicious.

It’s not like you made some gourmet dish, but if you have guests, they do feel like you put some effort into making something creative and yummy. That’s worth it. 




They’ll want to come back for seconds.  You can’t ask for more than
that.