Mac and Freaking Cheese. This stuff comes with me to most gatherings. I make it when I have people over, I bring it to Thanksgiving, and I’ve attempted to share the recipe a bunch of times...but I always make it a little bit different. Different cheeses, different amounts of milk or butter. So for the longest time I struggled to share a consistent recipe. I finally decided to test out exactly what makes a perfect mac and cheese. To my diet’s demise, I had to make it over and over. Oh well.
Everyone, and I mean everyone, should have a Mac and Cheese recipe. It’s taken me a couple years to hone in on exactly the kinds of cheese I like in it, and how I like to make it. But...I just kind of use whatever cheese catches my eye in the grocery store. Sometimes it’s Gouda, sometimes I use leftover Brie, and sometimes it’s a wildcard cheese that the grocery is running samples on. Mac and Cheese is malleable like that. It’s a forgiving food. You know why? Because pasta and cheese and milk and butter cannot be combined in a bad way. For this all around delicious and cheesy recipe, I finally settled on cheddar, fontina, and parm. The parmesan is actually already pretty salty, so make sure you taste as you go when you’re seasoning the cheese sauce.
The rules are simple: Boil pasta, make a roux with butter and flour, add in milk and pasta water, add in cheese, combine with pasta. Easy peasy mac and cheesey. Now, on to the recipe.
Mac and Cheese
16 oz of penne (or your favorite mac and cheese pasta type!)
1 stick butter (8 tbsp)
⅓ cup flour
2 cups whole milk
2 cups cheddar cheese, freshly shredded, and divided
1.5 cups fontina cheese, freshly grated
1 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Kosher salt
Black pepper
¼ tsp Cayenne pepper
Method
Preheat your oven to 400, and grease a 9x9 glass baking dish.
Start by getting some water boiling. Use a large heavy pot, and fill about ¾ with water. Add salt--about ¼ cup. Do not be afraid of the salt. Your tastebuds will thank you. I swear.
Once the water is boiling, add in your pasta, and cook until al dente. To keep the water from boiling over, you can lay a wooden spoon across the top of your pot. Once it’s cooked, reserve ¼ cup of pasta water and drain the rest. Return the pasta to the large pot with no heat.
Start your roux for the cheese sauce. Melt the butter in a medium-sized pan over medium heat. Don’t let it brown. Once it’s melted, add in the flour, and whisk. Once that’s whisked together and not lumpy, add in the cayenne, milk and the reserved pasta water. Continue to whisk and combine for a couple of minutes, long enough for the milk to heat up.
Add the shredded gruyere, and wait till it’s melted before you add the fontina. Once both of those are melted, add in 1.5 cups of the cheddar. Whisk to combine. It should be super velvety and smooth. Season with salt and pepper, and taste. Taste and season as you cook. It’s important!
Pour the cheese sauce into the heavy pot with the pasta and stir it up. Pour it in the glass baking dish, and sprinkle the remaining cheddar cheese on top. Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes-just enough time to get the top bubbly.
**You don’t have to bake this. Sometimes I just CANNOT wait that extra 20 minutes. I understand. Follow your heart.**
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