Easy Gratin

You know what sucks worse than the Cubs? Newcastle. You know what sucks worse than Newcastle? Not much. But one thing is this: Boring dinners. Nobody is better than Mrs. Architecturefootballandfood at taking something that's quick and cheap and easy, and turning it into an interesting, visually pleasing, and delectable dish.

Tonight, we felt like having a hearty pasta dinner. We cooked up some skirt steak (a favorite of ours...great fat content, very tender meat, and not the most expensive cut) and to go with it, turned a simple box of 365 Brand shells and cheese into a nice 3-cheese gratin.

All you have to do is:

Cook up the shells and cheese like normal. But when you're stirring in the butter, milk, and cheese from the packet, add just a bit more butter, and about 150% of the milk called for. it'll be wet. Then, dump it into a glass pie dish, small Pyrex, or any other oven-safe dish. Then, add a bit extra pepper, sprinkle some shredded or shaved cheese over the top (we used a fontina, parmesan, and asiago blend that we got from Whole Foods, but gruyere would be great with this. Don't be afraid of stinky cheeses!), and then topped the whole thing with Panko, a Japanese bread crumb. Any bread crumbs will do, but not too much or too heavy. Then, throw it in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350-400, or until the top turns bround and crispy and Presto! You've got yourself a nice, fancy gratin dish that's good enough to serve to guests. And it looks nice, it tastes great, and it gives you just that much pleasure by feeling like you actually made something that WASN'T out of a box, even though it really was.

Bon Apetit.