Things have been pretty busy lately and so we haven’t had as much time for good food as I’d like. I think we’ve had one salad all week. That said, we needed an easy dinner last night and so I made mac and cheese. If you want a better version of the instant variety, just make the roux and don’t bake. If you have an extra 45 minutes, go ahead and put it in the oven.
This version just uses cheddar and parmesan. Once we get into some cooler weather I love to use gruyere or other richer types of cheese, but for now cheddar hits the spot.
1/2 lb or so of good pasta, I like shells or large tubes
2 1/2 cups grated cheddar
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk, plus more if needed (room temperature)
If you plan on baking the mac and cheese, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Set aside a medium sized casserole dish.
In a large saucepan boil water for the pasta. Once the water comes to a boil, add plenty of salt and cook the pasta to al dente.
Meanwhile, make the roux. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. When butter has melted, gradually whisk in the flour. Continue to whisk while the flour butter mixture browns a bit. Then slowly whisk in half the milk. The resulting mixture should be relatively thick. The truth about a roux is if you do it really well it can be exceptionally creamy, but, even if you don’t, it will still be creamy. Add another quarter of the milk, and then all of the cheese. Turn down the heat and stir until the cheese melts. Keep adding milk until you achieve your desired milk/cheese ratio.
If you are going for the quick version, combine cheese and pasta and enjoy. If not, combine cheese and pasta and spoon into the casserole dish. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes.
Let the dish sit for five minutes and then serve with fresh ground pepper and a sliced heirloom tomato.
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