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There are a zillion baked macaroni and cheese recipes on the Internet. Many of them suck. This is not one of the sucky ones. It's based on a family recipe, slightly gussied up because I couldn't remember how exactly one uses the microwave to make cheese sauce.
You'll need:
Cheese sauce:
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
Dijon mustard
paprika, salt (optional), pepper
2 cups (at least) shredded cheese, preferably aged Cheddar
Pasta:
One package largeish tubular noodles, preferably with ridges. We used to use a penne for this, but I used a medium ziti tonight and it worked just fine. If you have to use elbow noodles, use the largest-bore elbow noodles you can find. Trust me on this one--you want the finished product to be pretty loose and with lots of breathing room. Ridges help the sauce adhere to the noodles.
Optional protein:
1 turkey or beef kielbasa sausage
Optional topping:
Panko crumbs
butter
Boil plenty of water in a big pot for the pasta, and cook according to directions. You want to pull the pasta off when it's al dente, just a bit before you normally would. This should probably be going on in the background while you're making the sauce. Drain the noodles and set aside.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F or thereabouts.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over low to medium heat. Using a non-metal spoon, stir in the flour and mix well. Continuing stirring over low heat for two minutes. You don't want to brown the roux; if it looks like it's heading in that direction, reduce the heat.
Using a whisk, and continually whisking, add the milk in small quantities - about two tablespoons at a time. Make sure that you fully incorporate the liquid before adding more - this way you will get a smooth sauce. The sauce will act like a weird living creature during this phase--you add the milk and whisk, and all of a sudden the roux goes sllllurrrrrrrrrp! and you have a sort of raggy mess in the bottom of your pan. It'll contract a bit more and then relax a little as the roux accepts the liquid; this is normal and a sign it's time to add more milk.
After you've added about half the milk, pour in the rest and give the mixture a good whisking. Continue to heat the sauce on low to medium heat, whisking often. Cook just to below boiling until the mixture thickens. This will happen all at once. (I love making sauce. It's magic.)
Add the cheese about 2 tablespoons at a time, thoroughly incorporating each addition. Cheeeeeeeeeeeese. Mmmm. Stir in mustard to taste--I use about a tablespoon.
Remove from heat and whisk in a little paprika and pepper. Salt, too, if it needs it.
Pasta goes in a casserole large enough to hold all of it. Cheese sauce goes in there too and gets all mixed in. At ths point, you could stick it in the fridge and bake it later--but why wait?
If you like a crunchy topping, melt some butter (about a tablespoon, maybe?) in a saucepan, then toss in some panko crumbs and sauté it a bit. Sprinkle crunchy stuff on top of the mac and cheese.
If you want sausage with our mac and cheese, cut up the whole thing and stick it on top. Then cover it and put it in the oven and leave it alone for, oh, 45 minutes or so. You want the sausage to be hot, the edges to be browning, and if you've got some bubbling action going on that's good too.
Pull it out, and eat.
You'll need:
Cheese sauce:
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
Dijon mustard
paprika, salt (optional), pepper
2 cups (at least) shredded cheese, preferably aged Cheddar
Pasta:
One package largeish tubular noodles, preferably with ridges. We used to use a penne for this, but I used a medium ziti tonight and it worked just fine. If you have to use elbow noodles, use the largest-bore elbow noodles you can find. Trust me on this one--you want the finished product to be pretty loose and with lots of breathing room. Ridges help the sauce adhere to the noodles.
Optional protein:
1 turkey or beef kielbasa sausage
Optional topping:
Panko crumbs
butter
Boil plenty of water in a big pot for the pasta, and cook according to directions. You want to pull the pasta off when it's al dente, just a bit before you normally would. This should probably be going on in the background while you're making the sauce. Drain the noodles and set aside.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F or thereabouts.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over low to medium heat. Using a non-metal spoon, stir in the flour and mix well. Continuing stirring over low heat for two minutes. You don't want to brown the roux; if it looks like it's heading in that direction, reduce the heat.
Using a whisk, and continually whisking, add the milk in small quantities - about two tablespoons at a time. Make sure that you fully incorporate the liquid before adding more - this way you will get a smooth sauce. The sauce will act like a weird living creature during this phase--you add the milk and whisk, and all of a sudden the roux goes sllllurrrrrrrrrp! and you have a sort of raggy mess in the bottom of your pan. It'll contract a bit more and then relax a little as the roux accepts the liquid; this is normal and a sign it's time to add more milk.
After you've added about half the milk, pour in the rest and give the mixture a good whisking. Continue to heat the sauce on low to medium heat, whisking often. Cook just to below boiling until the mixture thickens. This will happen all at once. (I love making sauce. It's magic.)
Add the cheese about 2 tablespoons at a time, thoroughly incorporating each addition. Cheeeeeeeeeeeese. Mmmm. Stir in mustard to taste--I use about a tablespoon.
Remove from heat and whisk in a little paprika and pepper. Salt, too, if it needs it.
Pasta goes in a casserole large enough to hold all of it. Cheese sauce goes in there too and gets all mixed in. At ths point, you could stick it in the fridge and bake it later--but why wait?
If you like a crunchy topping, melt some butter (about a tablespoon, maybe?) in a saucepan, then toss in some panko crumbs and sauté it a bit. Sprinkle crunchy stuff on top of the mac and cheese.
If you want sausage with our mac and cheese, cut up the whole thing and stick it on top. Then cover it and put it in the oven and leave it alone for, oh, 45 minutes or so. You want the sausage to be hot, the edges to be browning, and if you've got some bubbling action going on that's good too.
Pull it out, and eat.
