Barbecue beef mac ‘n cheese

I know this looks tailor-made for Super Bowl Sunday, but we’ve been making this dish ever since sampling it as a small plate at a local restaurant One Red Door a couple years ago (I’m still trying to figure out how to make their chocolate mousse oatmeal cookie tower.)

So for a knock-out dish for the big game, or if you’re in need of amped up comfort food, here you go. Warning: after having mac ‘n cheese with barbecue sauce you’ll wonder why you haven’t been eating it that way for years.

Recipe:

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

One creamy, homemade batch of mac ‘n cheese

1 1/2 pounds London broil or round steak roast, cut into 1″ chunks

2 cups prepared barbecue sauce

1/2 cup water or chicken broth

Flour

Oil

Directions

1. Prepare your mac ‘n cheese and set aside. Don’t have a favorite recipe? Try this one from Zingerman’s Roadhouse.
2. In a heavy bottomed saute pan, bring 1 tablespoon canola oil up to medium-high heat.
3. Meanwhile, toss the beef pieces in flour to coat. You can do this easily by putting the chunks and about 1/2 cup flour in a heavy duty plastic bag and giving it a good shake.
4. Add the flour-coated beef to the hot oil and cook until browned.
5. Place the browned beef pieces, barbecue sauce, and chicken broth in a slow cooker set on LOW for 5-6 hours.
6. Note: I also like to add a dash of Tabasco sauce or cayenne powder to the sauce to give it a kick.
7. Serve each serving of mac ‘n cheese with a portion of barbecued beef.

Not a fan of beef? No problem. For a vegetarian version try roasting cauliflower or broccoli and then heat the barbecue sauce in a saucepan. Add the roasted vegetables to the mac ‘n cheese and grab a fork!