As a passionate cheese lover, I’m always looking for new ways to up my cheese game. Recently, I was scrolling through Instagram Reels when I stumbled upon a recipe for macaroni and cheese topped with garlic steak bites. I thought, “Well, this looks like it would absolutely wreck my lactose-intolerant stomach and take me out for the foreseeable future. I should make this!” So, I called up my friends, dragged them to Trader Joe’s, made a pit stop to buy their brand new cheese tote bag, and returned home with everything I needed for the dish — well, almost everything. As I write this, I’m realizing I forgot the parsley for a garnish. I knew I had missed something.
The recipe was quite easy to follow. I cooked the macaroni pasta per the box instructions and, as that was boiling, I combined two 8-ounce bags of cheese with 16 ounces of evaporated milk in a pot. Once combined, I added black pepper, salt, paprika, and garlic powder. Then, I mixed in the macaroni, put it in a baking pan, and left it in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25 minutes.
The steak addition, however, made me nervous. I’ve never cooked beef before, but I figured, hey, if I can somehow make a whole ham for my friendsgiving, then I can whip up some steak bites. All I had to do was season the meat with onion powder, salt, pepper, and just a hint of cayenne pepper. I also added some minced garlic because, while the recipe said not to include it until a bit later, I thought it would be good to add it in early. Call it culinary intuition! After letting it marinate for about 10 minutes, I grilled it in a hot skillet until the meat was at about medium (ish) doneness. The timing was perfect because, just as I took the steak off the pan, my oven timer for the macaroni and cheese went off. It was finally time to plate everything and eat.
The recipe made four full plates, plus about half a pan of leftover macaroni. Two of my friends rated the dish an 8 out of 10, while the third (my favorite) was a bit nicer and gave it an 8.5. So, I’d say it was a pretty good dish. Does my lactose intolerance agree? Not so much. Whatever the consequences may be tonight, it was delicious, and against my better judgment, I will be making it again.
