Mac and cheese is one of my favorite comfort foods, along with grilled cheese. While you may think of it as more of a winter dish, just because it’s 90 degrees out doesn’t mean you can’t make it…as long as you don’t mind turning on the oven.
For the bread crumbs, we just sprinkled some panko, the Japanese version of bread crumbs, on top which worked pretty well. Also, for the milk, either whole, low-fat, or skim works well in the recipe; we used 2 percent.
Mac & Cheese
Ingredients:
Bread Crumb Topping
- 6 slices white sandwich bread (good-quality, about 6 ounces), torn into rough pieces
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (cold), cut into 6 pieces
Pasta and Cheese
- 1 pound elbow macaroni
- 1 tablespoon table salt
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons powdered mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- 5 cups milk
- 8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (2 cups)
- 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (2 cups)
- 1 teaspoon table salt
Directions:
- Pulse bread and butter in food processor until crumbs are no larger than 1/8 inch, 10 to 15 1-second pulses. Set aside.
- Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat broiler. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in Dutch oven over high heat. Add macaroni and 1 tablespoon salt; cook until pasta is tender. Drain pasta and set aside in colander.
- In now-empty Dutch oven, heat butter over medium-high heat until foaming. Add flour, mustard, and cayenne (if using) and whisk well to combine. Continue whisking until mixture becomes fragrant and deepens in color, about 1 minute.
- Gradually whisk in milk; bring mixture to boil, whisking constantly (mixture must reach full boil to fully thicken). Reduce heat to medium and simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened to consistency of heavy cream, about 5 minutes.
- Off heat, whisk in cheeses and 1 teaspoon salt until cheeses are fully melted.
- Add pasta and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is steaming and heated through, about 6 minutes.
- Transfer mixture to broiler-safe 9-by 13-inch baking dish and sprinkle evenly with bread crumbs. Broil until crumbs are deep golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes, rotating pan if necessary for even browning. Cool about 5 minutes, then serve.