Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

As far as I’m concerned, homemade macaroni and cheese is as close to heaven on earth that you’re going to get. Sure it’s a little bit more labor intensive than boiling pasta shells and squeezing out what may or may not be 100% cheese into the pot, but the flavors you’ll achieve or even just the freedom you’ll have to make it exactly the way you want it is priceless.

The first step of preparing your own mac and cheese is making a roux. For those of you not familiar with a roux, it’s basically 60% flour, 40% fat. It creates a thick, pasty, doughy base that you can use to make sauce or thicken a soup. In this recipe, we’ll use all purpose flour and butter for the roux, but you can use other types of flour or fats depending on your diet.  Next, you add milk slowly and in small amounts to create béchamel sauce. Once the béchamel is seasoned and well developed, add the cheese (béchamel sauce + cheese = mornay sauce) and cooked pasta and mix well.  At this point you can serve the mac and cheese immediately, or you bake it in the oven with a layer of panko breadcrumbs to create a crispy crust. I also suggest sprinkling it with fresh thyme and extra black pepper to develop the flavor.

Approximately 1/3 pound white roux:

            3 ounces all purpose flour

            2 ounces unsalted butter

                        Melt butter in heavy bottomed pan.

                        Once melted, slowly add flour and mix in using a whisk.

Mix quickly so it doesn’t burn, and to the point that the flour is completely blended with the butter.

6 ½ cups + 1 teaspoon milk (can use soy or rice milk)

5 ½ cups cheese: either one or a combination of gruyere, parmesan, mozzarella, blue cheese, etc

1 pound pasta

Fresh thyme (optional)

Panko breadcrumbs (optional)

Warm the milk and add it to the hot roux in batches while whisking, to work out any lumps.

Bring sauce to a full boil once all the milk has been added, then reduce to a simmer over low heat until sauce is smooth and thickened (about 30 minutes).

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to directions on package and set aside.

Stir in cheese until completely melted.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

If desired, pour into a baking dish, sprinkle with panko breadcrumbs, and bake at 400 degrees until top layer is crispy.

Finish with freshly chopped thyme and extra pepper.