This isn’t much of a recipe, but as you know I don’t really follow recipes so it’s hard for me to come up with one. I primarily cook by taste and feel, letting the dish develop as I go.
Homemade mac ‘n cheese isn’t hard by any means and it tastes way better than that neon orange boxed stuff.
Here’s what you need to do.
Preheat oven to 350°. Cook pasta of your choice according to package directions.
While the pasta is cooking melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large dutch oven. When the butter is melted and beginning to bubble add 2 tablespoons flour and stir constantly while cooking for a minute or two. Essentially you are making a roux. You need to cook the butter/flour mixture for a bit to remove the flour taste.
After a minute or two of stirring and cooking, whisk in 2 cups milk. I like to use a combination of milk and cream. I also like to add one cup at a time, let it thicken and then add the remaining cup. You can do this or add it all at once. Doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you are constantly whisking. Whisking, whisking, whisking.
You need to keep whisking until your arm falls off or your sauce thickens, whichever comes first.
As your sauce begins to thicken throw in a pinch of nutmeg. I keep whole nutmegs in the pantry so I just grate some off directly into the sauce. You’ll also want to squeeze in a tiny amount of mustard. Spicy brown mustard adds a nice flavor. Plain yellow mustard is fine too. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Now it’s time to turn this white sauce orange by adding your shredded cheddar. Oh yeah, grate some cheddar cheese! About a cup will do.
Back to whisking. Whisk in all the cheese until melted. Taste one last time to make any final adjustments before adding in the pasta.
Stir drained pasta into your dutch oven to mix well with the cheese sauce. Pour mixture into a buttered casserole dish.
Process one slice of bread with one tablespoon of softened butter in a food processor to make bread crumbs. Alternatively, use dry bread crumbs mixed with melted butter. Top pasta and cheese mixture with buttered bread crumbs and bake in 350° oven for 30 minutes.
That’s all there is to it!
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