Saucepan Macaroni and Cheese
I think mac and cheese may be the ultimate comfort food. The pinnacle of carbs and cheese. Creamy, gooey, carby, cheesy, all four food groups. Usually when I make homemade macaroni and cheese I make a version of Alton Brown's baked macaroni and cheese. I've never tried to make homemade stovepot macaroni and cheese though. The sauce to the recipe in The Food You Want to Eat
Saucepan Macaroni and Cheese
- Kosher salt for boiling pasta, plus 1/2 teaspoon for seasoning
- 1 pound dried macaroni elbows, ziti or penne
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons prepared Coiman's mustard
- 8 ounces Cheddar cheese, finely grated
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Bring a large, heavy-bottomed pot of salted water (1 teaspoon of salt per quart) to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until it's al dente, more than likely about 8 minutes. Drain it in a colander.
- Return the pot to low heat and melt the butter in it. Add the flour and whisk for 1 minute, until the mixture bubbles. Raise the heat to medium. Gradually add the milk, whisking all the time to blend. Then add the nutmeg and bay leaf and bring to a simmer, whisking constantly, particularly at the edges of the pot. When the sauce simmers it will thicken. Turn the heat down to low and cook at a bare simmer for 10 minutes; this cooks away the floury taste.
- Remove the pan from the heat. Discard the bay leaf. Stir in the mustard. Now add the drained pasta and the grated cheeses. Put the pan over very low heat and stir to melt the cheese. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Spoon out into a serving bowl, or onto serving plates, and serve immediately.
What I changed:
I left out the bay leaf and the mustard because I don't like the taste of bay leaves and I didn't have any mustard. I'm all about using what you have, so I used mini bow tie pasta, uh, farfalle (I had to look that up. Bow tie. It's bow tie pasta). I also had some cream that was going to go bad if I didn't use it, so I sacrificed and made extra creamy mac and cheese and used about half cream, half skim milk. See, it was for RESEARCH. Yeah. I also had Romano cheese instead of Parmigiano so I used that. In the interest of time management, I used two pots, one to cook the pasta and the other to start the sauce while that was boiling.
What I'd change next time:
Unless I want to have a heart attack before I'm 35, I probably shouldn't keep using cream. And unless you are feeding a small army, you may want to half the recipe because 1 pound of bow ties makes a LOT of macaroni and cheese. We will be eating it for three weeks. For RESEARCH.
What I served it with:
I made some hamburgers but really this is so filling, it's an entree by itself.
Disasters:
I only had a near disaster. I turned my back for a minute and the cream almost boiled over. Ok, so I was eating the pieces of pasta that stuck to the pot...you know, for RESEARCH. My research indicates the water was salty enough and I am a fan of the Barilla Piccolini pastas. I do wish they came in a whole wheat version though so I could trick myself into thinking it was healthy.
Overall Impression:
Droool. Way, way, WAY better than neon orange boxed macaroni and cheese. It took longer and made a bigger mess obviously, but worth it. From very start to finish, about 30 minutes for me and that included comforting a sick toddler in there. The downside was that the aforementioned toddlers didn't recognize it as macaroni and cheese and refused to even taste it. More for me. For RESEARCH.
