I stumbled upon this recipe when I was looking for something to take to a church potluck.  It’s since become a favorite of mine (with a few modifications, of course).  The most recent time I prepared this was for the culinary collaboration.  Jennifer, a co-worker of mine, and I decided that we must have this for lunch the following day and quickly planned an evening get together over chicken casserole, Penelope, margaritas, and cooking.  I rattled off a list of ingredients, forgetting to add anything that I consider a “staple” in my own kitchen.  We agreed on adding sausage, and I added evaporated milk* to the list.

When I got to her house and actually looked up the recipe, I was suddenly worried.  I had forgotten to mention cheddar cheese, sour cream, and eggs.  Jennifer pulled eggs and cheese out of the fridge, noting that she always has them around (like me).  Then she scrounged in the fridge for some sour cream.  What she found was a bit of a surprise: an unopened container with an expiration date of 09/28/09.  She looked a little ashamed after reading the date aloud, and even more so when I noted that she had moved nearly two months after that date had passed.  Her husband gave it a try and declared it fine.  Jennifer seemed a bit hesitant to use it, perhaps worried that I would find this unacceptable.  I pushed for its inclusion.

On the whole, our job of cooking was a success.  I didn’t measure a thing, the dishes were all cleaned before we even put the macaroni in the oven, and Jennifer and I had smoothly passed off duties when I couldn’t find a mixing bowl or couldn’t work her can-opener.  I’ve never felt so in sync with someone in the kitchen before.  It seemed only natural that such an experience would be with somebody who shares my name.

A few days later, the two of us a co-taught a workshop for middle school students.  At the end of the workshop, each student completed a brief reflection on how the day had gone.  One of the questions reads “who helped you today?”  Imagine our delight when one of the answers echoed our feelings in the kitchen: “Jenny or Jennifer?  Their names were like the same!”

*America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook claims evaporated milk doesn’t curdle in baked macaroni.  I’ve never made it with regular milk, and it’s always been a success.  I’m not changing now.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 at 9:37 pm and is filed under Food Talk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.