Homemade Mac and Cheese
This recipe I got from my mother. It is pure comfort food. I hope you enjoy it.
What you'll need
1 pound macaroni
6 tablespoons butter (or margarine, I'm not picky)
1/4 cup flour
4 cups milk
2 1/2 cups (5 oz.)shredded yellow Cheddar cheese
2-4 slices of bread
A teaspoon of mustard (Dijon works best, gives a little zing)(Optional)
Salt and Pepper
How to make it
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cook the pasta until done. Drain the pasta and leave in the pot (we will be mixing in the sauce later)
2. Meanwhile, in a medium sized pot, melt 4 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour to create a roux (This make it so when adding liquid into the flour, it doesn't get all lumpy). Make sure to keep it on the heat. In small percentages, pour in the milk and whisk until all the milk has been absorbed (to start, I usually pour in about a quarter cup of milk for the first 4 pours then half cup increments until all the milk is gone). Be cautious there are no lumps in the mixture before adding the next increment of milk. The more you whisk, the less likely there are to be lumps.
3. Once all the milk has been mixed in, you should be left with a silky looking sauce and should coat the back of a wooden spoon. This is the base for our sauce. Right now it has no taste except for maybe milk. Stir in 2 cup of the cheese in increments of 1/2 cup. Mix in the teaspoon of mustard now. Season with salt and pepper to taste. If the sauce is chunky because of the amount of cheese, keep the sauce on heat while constantly stirring. This will melt all the cheese and thin out the sauce.
4. Once The cheese sauce done, pour it over and mix it into the pasta. Transfer the pasta and cheese sauce into oven dishes.
5. In a food processor, pulse the bread until crumbs form. Mix the bread crumbs with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Toss together with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese. Top the pasta with the breadcrumb mixture. Bake until the top is golden, about 30 minutes.
Servings
This recipe makes enough for 6 people without leftovers. You can divide the macaroni and cheese evenly into 6 oven dishes, sprinkle with topping, and bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden if you want to server them individually instead of in one big pot.