Gratin de Coquillettes au Jambon
Gratin de Coquillettes au Jambon·(gra-tan duh ko-kee-yet oh zhahn-bohn)
La Popote: Everyday French Weeknight Dinners
Seven-thirty on a Tuesday, the kitchen is loud, and survival means skipping the Kraft blue-box dinner for supermarket elbow macaroni, thick-cut deli ham, and heavy cream. Nobody wastes time whisking a fussy béchamel, you just boil the elbows, fold in the ham, and melt grated Gruyère into the starchy water for a bubbling interior. Broil it until the top crust shatters, and serve the reduced cream and browned cheese straight from the baking dish.
Before you start
Prep your ingredients before boiling.
This recipe moves very fast once the pasta is cooked. Have your cheese grated, ham cubed, and cream measured out before the macaroni hits the water.
Ingredients
- garlic1 med clove
- unsalted butter1 tbsp
- low-sodium chicken bouillon cube1 med
- elbow macaroni1 lb
- deli boiled ham8 oz
- Gruyère cheese8 oz
- heavy cream1 cup
- sour cream2 tbsp
- nutmeg1/4 tsp
- black pepper1/2 tsp
- coarse breadcrumbs1/2 cup
Method
- 01
Prepare the baking dish.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Vigorously rub the cut sides of the garlic all over the inside of a 9x13-inch baking dish to perfume it, then discard the garlic clove and grease the dish evenly with the softened butter.
- 02
Infuse and boil the pasta.
Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and dissolve the bouillon cube into it. Add the macaroni and boil it for exactly two minutes less than the package directs for al dente, ensuring it keeps a firm bite so it doesn't turn to mush in the oven.
- 03
Reserve the starch and drain.
Just before draining, scoop out a half cup of the starchy pasta water and set it aside. Drain the pasta well, but absolutely do not rinse it; that surface starch is the secret to a silky sauce.
- 04
Build the gratin.
Return the hot pasta to the warm, off-heat pot and immediately stir in the heavy cream, sour cream, reserved pasta water, nutmeg, and black pepper. Fold in the cubed ham and exactly half of the grated Gruyère, letting the residual heat melt the cheese into a thick coating.
- 05
Assemble the crust.
Pour the mixture into your prepared baking dish in an even layer. Toss the remaining grated Gruyère with the breadcrumbs and scatter it generously over the top.
- 06
Bake fast and hot.
Bake on the middle rack for 15 to 20 minutes until you have a bubbling, molten interior and a burnished, shatteringly crisp crust. Do not leave it in longer than 20 minutes, or the pasta will soak up all the cream and dry out.
- 07
Rest and serve.
Let the gratin rest for five minutes before serving to let the dairy thicken up, then serve it alongside a sharply dressed green salad to cut the richness.
Notes
Buy block cheese, not pre-shredded.
American pre-shredded cheese is coated in anti-caking agents that ruin the texture of a good gratin. Grating a block of Gruyère takes a minute and melts beautifully.
Mind the ham.
Skip the honey-baked or heavily smoked stuff. You want plain, unsmoked 'boiled' or deli white ham sliced thick enough to cube, providing a subtle sweetness that won't overpower the cream.
Don't rinse the pasta.
Washing the noodles sends all that precious surface starch down the drain. You need it to bind the cream and cheese together into a cohesive sauce without using a floury roux.
From Cook French in America.