TESTING DIFFERENT RICE CRACKER CRUMBS
My original vision was to make crumbs out of Bin Bin rice crackers. These crackers are very light and airy with umami flavor from MSG, and I thought they would add a good crunch to the mac and cheese. However, after I baked the mac and cheese, the rice cracker crumb lost all its crunch. Moreover, the subtle umami flavor of the crackers didn’t stand out against the other flavors of the butternut squash mac and cheese. After that failed attempt, I thought about other rice crackers that might have a crunchier texture. Immediately, J-Basket’s seaweed-wrapped rice crackers (nori maki arare, 海苔巻きあられ) came to mind. The crackers are quite crunchy in their original form and the seaweed adds another layer of umami flavor. The J-Basket rice cracker crumbs held up nicely in the baked mac and cheese. The crumbs retained their crunch and I liked the subtle flavor in the topping.
BREAKING DOWN THE RICE CRACKERS
To break the seaweed-wrapped rice crackers into crumbs, I recommend using a food processor (or a smaller electric grinder). The blades in the food processor easily break down the seaweed into smaller pieces. When blending the rice crackers in the food processor, keep in mind that you don’t want to grind everything into a fine powder (at least not for this recipe). You want there to be slightly large pieces so that you can detect the crunch of the rice crackers against the mac and cheese. I recommend blending the crackers at 2 to 3 second intervals, until nearly all the crackers have broken down into small chunks. There might be 1 or 2 crackers that somehow missed the blades and remain mostly intact (see photo above). Simply pick those out and eat them or crush them with a kitchen mallet. I wouldn’t continue running the food processor just to break down these stray crackers, as you can quickly turn the rest of the crumbs into a fine powder. If you want to use the crackers as breading instead of a topping, you may want to grind the crackers more finely, like you see in the photo above, left. Smaller crumbs adhere better to the surface of meat, fish, or tofu.
BAKED BUTTERNUT SQUASH MAC & CHEESE
The recipe outlined below is essentially a half batch of my butternut squash mac and cheese recipe with several modifications. First, this version is not gluten free. I used large shell pasta instead of gluten-free penne and all-purpose flour to make the roux. If you are gluten intolerant, use a gluten-free pasta and a gluten-free flour blend as substitutes. Next, instead of relying on salt and cheese to deliver savory flavor, I added white miso to give the dish a layer of umami flavor. And of course, the rice cracker topping is new addition to the mac and cheese.
HOW LONG DO THE CRUMBS LAST?
Once you break down the rice crackers into crumbs, keep them in a jar and use within 1 to 2 weeks, before the crackers go stale.
