Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Whatever ingredients you choose be sure to start with a bechamel sauce and just top with plenty of fresh grated cheddar cheese. I can't put enough emphasis on freshly graded cheese on top.

DEFINITELY start with a bechamel. Don't dump cheese into noodles and bake. You need to make a cheese sauce.

Alton Brown has a recipe, and he is pretty trustworthy.

It has breadcrumbs, but I'm sure you can choose not to use them if you don't want to.

The crispy cheese edges are really an accidental thing from being cooked too long. 15 seconds under a broiler would do the same thing.

Accidental or not those little crispy pieces are delicious. The lunch lady was a good friend of my grandmother's and used to always give me a little extra. I'm looking at baking this in a 13X9 glass Pyrex to take to work.

Use SHARP cheddar cheese. Even if you don't normally prefer the sharp stuff, you need sharp cheddar in mac and cheese.

Here's a good classic recipe from the Settlement Cookbook:

My Favorite Macaroni and Cheese

White Sauce

2 cups hot milk or half and half
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

1. Scald the milk. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

2. Add the flour, stirring constantly.

3. Stir in the hot milk gradually and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens.

4. If lumpy, beat well with rotary beater. Season and serve hot.

To Assemble:

white sauce (above) 1 recipe
1 pound boiled macaroni
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
butter

1. Mix white sauce, macaroni, and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese.

2. Place in buttered baking dish, sprinkle top with remaining cheese and dot with butter. Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

I prefer Colby cheese for the crust ontop.

Whatever recipe you use, here are a few trucks I have picked up from combining and trying different recipes:

- definitely start with a bechamel. This is so much better than melted cheese and noodles

- if you are going to bake the Mac and cheese, make sure you undercook the macaroni by at least a couple of minutes. This way the noodles won't be mushy after baking the dish

- rinse the noodles well before combining with your cheese sauce. Removing the extra starch from the noodles keeps the sauce smooth

- definitely use sharp cheddar, but combine a couple others as well. Maybe Gruyere or havarti?

- ground mustard really adds to the tang of the sharp cheese. Fresh ground nutmeg is a nice addition too

This one is sort of a half and half, by that I mean you need to cook the noodles but other than that, you can do the rest in the oven.



This is so freaking good.



2 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 1/4 cups milk, warmed
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 eggs
2 cups grated extra sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cook macaroni according to package directions and drain.

Heat butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat.

Stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Use a whisk and add milk, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens. Add salt and pepper.

Beat eggs slightly and add small amount of sauce to eggs and then add remaining egg mixture to sauce. Set aside 1/3 cup grated cheese for top.

Add one third macaroni to a buttered 2 quart casserole, alternating layers of macaroni and cheese. Pour sauce all over and add reserved cheese.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes and serve.


Tastes just like the mac and cheese from Piccadilly. Yum!

Definitely gonna try one of these

quote:

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It has breadcrumbs, but I'm sure you can choose not to use them if you don't want to.

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Saw one recipe that used finely crushed GOLDFISH instead of breadcrumbs/panko. I think I'll give it a shot.