I'm not even gonna pretend to have shame that we eat the blue box stuff...and like it. Is it healthy? No. Can you really even qualify it as a meal to feed yourself or your children? Probably not. Is it totally delicious and sometimes EXACTLY what fits the bill? Yes. Yes it is.
Sometimes though, you crave that thick, rich and creamy homemade stuff. Comfort food at its highest. Calorie counting out the window butter, milks and cheeses all wrapped up with noodles of various shapes....and then you taste what you made and bleh.....its ok, but not it. You know...IT. The one you taste and everything hits you as exactly right. The sharpness of the cheese, the silkiness of the sauce, the tenderness of the noodles. THIS is IT you say......
I want that. I want THAT recipe. I've made lots of mac'n'cheeses in my life and haven't hit THAT recipe yet....so I've gone on a search, to make multiple mac'n'cheese recipes until I find it. Hopefully, you have found your soulmate recipe for mac'n'cheese, but if not, join me and hopefully together, we can brave this long, confusing road of mac'n'cheese recipes, and come out stronger, wiser, and perhaps 10 pounds heavier on the other side... :)
Macaroni and Cheese version I comes directly from a top google hit when I search macaroni and cheese recipes on google. It was not the top choice, but the second one down. It comes from a website The Country Contessa. Head over there and check her blog out for sure....I wanna be her friend....actually we are friends. In my head. :) Anyways, it had almost 60 reviews and rated at 4.8 (via her recipe card) I decided it would be a good one to give a try first.
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| Ok...so yum!!! This photo is directly off The Country Contessa website. Her photo is way better than mine and does this cheesy goodness some justice. Probably not enough because you can't capture that in a photo, but close....so close... |
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups dry elbow noodles, she states you can also use shells or cavatappi
3 TBSP butter or margarine, (we only use real butter in our house)
3 TBSP all purpose flour
2 cups milk, she states not skim. I used whole milk
1/2 tsp each, salt and pepper
2 cups shredded cheese, she uses swiss and sharp cheddar, which is also what I used, 1 cup of each.
DIRECTIONS:
- Bring a pan of water to boil, salt to taste and cook pasta according to shortest time on box.
- While pasta is boiling in another sauce pan that will be large enough to hold the cooked pasta, melt the butter over medium high heat and add flour, making a roux. Allow the roux to cook 1-2 minutes, until lightly browned, stir frequently so you don't burn it.
- Add milk, whisk, breaking up any clumps and add salt and pepper. Continue to cook until bubbling and thick, about 6 minutes.
- Add cheese. I added mine in about 3 increments, whisking cheese until completely melted each time prior to adding the next batch of cheese.
- Remove sauce from heat, taste and adjust salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked and drained pasta and mix well. You may eat it at this point or continue to the next step to bake, which is my preference
- Poured into greased 2 qt casserole dish. Bake, uncovered, about 25-30 minutes or until browned to your liking on top.
This was hands down some of the best mac'n'cheese I've ever eaten. The texture, the combo of swiss and sharp cheddar. It was awesome. While it does not need it, next time just for experimentation purposes I think I'm going to add a bit of minced garlic to the milk and roux mixture as well as possibly some dry mustard. As mentioned on her website, the possibilities are endless when it comes to what you may add to this. It's really a wonderful recipe to start with or add your favorite veggies and/or meats.
