I was inspired by Kristine Fraser and decided I would also try making Disney World foods at home. Which is awesome because Disney foods but even more awesome because I rarely cook anymore…(I’m skipping the Dole Whip from her list, because that’s not an official recipe, I don’t care what anyone says. Dole Whip is vegan and that recipe isn’t vegan. Also, we have the official Dole Pineapple Frozen Yogurt mix which DOES make more realistic Dole Whip anyway.)
Next on the list, TW’s favorite cocktail (she says favorite, I say second favorite. I’m right but haven’t figured out how to make her real favorite at home, yet… I’ll get to it) and a macaroni & cheese dish from France in Epcot that we’ve never actually eaten.
Because we’ve never actually eaten at Chef’s de France and I haven’t really heard AJ from Disney Food Blog talk a lot about the macaroni & cheese there, I assumed that the photo of the mac & cheese on Kristine’s FB page was either the Jiko mac & cheese or the noodle gratin thing that AJ sometimes talks about that’s in Germany. I guess I should actually read the descriptions of these things before I decide I’m going to make them? Or maybe not since this sucker was GOOD and I think we’d all eat Gratin de Macaroni again.
You can see the photos of the original and Kristine’s, along with the recipe, here. And, these are my photos.
Kristine used Swiss, I used an 8 oz block of Gruyere that I picked up at the Jacksonville NAS commissary. Because I didn’t actually read the directions, I had a brief moment of panic that 8 oz would not be enough and was frantically digging around in the fridge for some swiss to supplement it with. Turns out, I actually had more than the 1 1/2 cups the recipe calls for. If I deviated from the recipe at all, it is just using the entire 8 oz block rather than carefully measuring out a cup and a half. And then I had another brief moment of panic when I took the foil off of the top and it was really oily looking. I thought for sure I’d used too much cheese and it was going to taste BAD. They key here, I think, is to let it sit for the 10 minutes after you take it out of the oven. It was hard to wait, but I did, and the oily sheen disappeared.
If/when I make this again, I’ll add 2 pinches of Kosher salt rather than one. That was the only complaint anyone had – it needed a wee bit more salt.
It was really, really rich and really, really good. TW had seconds AND she ate it for lunch the next day and then for breakfast today. I did not get seconds nor did I get to have any of the leftovers. TW RARELY eats leftovers. Not even of mac & cheese (which she will swear she eats leftovers of.) WINNER!
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Now for the Tempting Tigress cocktail, found at Nomad Lounge. Nomad Lounge is one of our favorite Disney World places. It’s also a place where TW has been known to sob out of happiness (really) and get just a littttttle bit tipsy. Neither are things she does on a regular basis.
Here’s the basic recipe. Our little liquor store does not carry the St Elizabeth’s (shocking, I know) so TW found a recipe for the Allspice Dram here. I tracked down whole Allspice and I ordered Tamarind Syrup and the demerara sugar from Amazon (mostly because I was afraid Walmart wouldn’t really have Sugar in the Raw and I had no idea whether the commissary would have it. Rather than taking a chance, I just ordered and made my life easier.)
I made the dram… super easy, if kind of weird. I used the Nellie & Joe’s Key Lime Juice that was leftover from one of those other Disney recipes I made last month. I thought for sure we’d have a lemon handy so I didn’t even think twice and… our lemons were pretty much dead so errr, that was a bit of a fail. But I don’t think TW or her mom cared.
TW has mightily enjoyed her Tempting Tigresses and I’m sure plans to continue enjoying them until the bottle of Russell’s is empty and/or I buy another bottle and make her another batch of Allspice Dram.
Another winner under my belt!