Mac & Cheese

Can I have your best baked Mac & Cheese recipe?
Thanks!

Re: Mac & Cheese

I've tried a few and I like this recipe the best. I make a few changes - I like to switch up the cheese. I buy cabot and shred it myself. I usually do some kind of mix of cheddar and monterey or whatever I can find in the store. I also use italian seasoned panko on top and run the dish under the broiler for a few minutes before serving

Mac and Cheese

Ingredients

* 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
* 1/4 cup butter
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon mustard powder, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika
* 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 2 cups milk
* 8 ounces American cheese, cubed
* 8 ounces processed cheese food (eg. Velveeta), cubed
* 1/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Butter a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni, and cook until not quite done, about 6 minutes. Drain.
2. In a separate saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Blend in the flour, mustard powder, and pepper until smooth. Slowly stir in the milk, beating out any lumps. Add the American and processed cheeses, and stir constantly until the sauce is thick and smooth.
3. Drain noodles, and stir them into the cheese sauce. Transfer the mixture to the prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle bread crumbs over the top.
4. Cover the dish, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until sauce is thick and bubbly. (bake 20 minutes, broil for 5 on 400)

Mac & Cheese

I do the recipe that's rightbon the back of the Ronzoni box. I just use 4 cups of milk instead of 5 and use the "seriously sharp" white cheddar by Cabot. Eeryone goes nuts over it!

Re: Mac & Cheese

Alton brown's Mac and cheese

Re: Mac & Cheese

I totally screwed up an Ina Garten recipe and it came out AMAZING. I had no flour for a roux so this is what I did:

Basically I heated 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of half and half on the stove and added about 12 oz shredded cheese (I used gruyere and colby jack). It was really thin but I went with it.

I mixed that with a little less than a pound of pasta, then topped it with breadcrumbs and sprayed it with olive oil so it would brown.

I cooked that at 375 for 35 minutes and let it set for about 10 minutes once it was done.

It came out AMAZING. SO much better than I could have hoped for. I really think that the gruyere flavor helped a ton, but the pasta soaked up the sauce and was nice and cheesy and just yummy.

Mac & Cheese

Thanks ladies!

Re: Mac & Cheese

I went to Morton's for dinner and the thing I liked best of the entire meal was the mac n cheese appetizer! So, I googled it and found the recipe its soooo good! I highly recommend that look it up!

Re: Mac & Cheese

Hofstra26 posted one that is amazing! Seriously, I sometimes dream of the sauce!

Re: Mac & Cheese

I make this one all the time.

**WARNING, I doubled the topping from the original recipe because everyone loves the topping so you may feel there is too much, just halve the topping part if you don't like a thick topping.

Macaroni & cheese
For topping
•1/2 stick butter
•2 cups panko bread crumbs
•1 1/2 cups coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar
•1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

For macaroni and sauce
•1/2 stick butter
•3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
•2 1/2 cups whole milk
•3 cups coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar
•1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
•1/2 pound elbow macaroni
•1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper
•1/2 cup reserved cooking water


Make topping:
Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle.
Melt butter, then stir together with panko and topping cheeses in a bowl until combined well.

Make sauce:
Melt butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat and stir in flour. Cook roux, stirring, 3 minutes, then whisk in milk. Bring sauce to a boil, whisking constantly, then simmer, whisking occasionally, 3 minutes. Stir in cheeses, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until smooth. Remove from heat and cover surface of sauce with wax paper.

Make Macaroni:
Cook macaroni in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (2 tablespoons salt for 4 quarts water) until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water and drain macaroni in a colander. Stir together macaroni, reserved cooking water, and sauce in a large bowl. Transfer to a buttered 2-quart baking dish.
Sprinkle topping evenly over macaroni and bake until golden and bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes.

Re: Mac & Cheese

Got this off a Zesty Bite blog.

It was SOOOO good!

For the mac
4 oz. elbow macaroni
1/2 tsp salt
2 qts of water

Mix-Ins
4 strips bacon
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Cheese Sauce
4 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded
3 oz. cream cheese
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt

The finisher (topping)
2 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tsp paprika

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Bring 2 qts of water to boil and add salt (this is for cooking noodles)
In medium sauce pan cook bacon over medium heat until crisp and then chop up into pieces
Pour all but 1 tablespoon of fat out of pan and brown onions
Add garlic at the end for about 1 minute
Leave a little bit of a crunch to the onions as they will soften once baked in the oven

Cheese Sauce
In 2 quart saucepan or Dutch oven, melt the butter over a low heat
Whisk in the flour after butter melts and cook for 5 minutes or until it turns a straw like color
Slowly add milk while mixing to keep the sauce from getting lumps
Cook for 5-6 mins until it starts to bubble and thicken
Stir in cream cheese until thoroughly mixed
Next, stir in cheddar cheese and seasonings; Turn off heat once mixed in

Macaroni
Pour in macaroni half way through making the sauce so it will be ready when sauce is done
Boil macaroni for about 2/3 the recommended time so it is still slightly chewy (we did 6 minutes)
The macaroni will soften up while it bakes in the oven
Drain the noodles and combine them with cheese sauce, onions and bacon and mix thoroughly
Pour mixture into 2 quart oven safe dish or individual baking dishes
Sprinkle with shredded cheese and paprika
Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until top layer of cheese has browned

Mac & Cheese

I use the recipe from the red and white Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.