Serves 12
You can easily divide this recipe in half:
Use a one-and-a-half-quart casserole dish.
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for dish
6 slices good white bread, crusts removed, torn into ¼-to-½-inch pieces
5 ½ cups milk
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoons cayenne pepper, or to taste
4 ½ cups (about 18 oz) grated sharp white Cheddar cheese
2 cups (about 8 oz) grated Gruyere or 1 ¼ C (about 5 oz) Pecorino Romano cheese
1 pound elbow macaroni
Personal notes about this dish:
Regarding the cheeses. I rarely find the sharp cheddar cheese in the grocery store, and if I can't find it, I just use mild cheddar. As for the other cheeses, the one I use is DiGiorno Romano cheese. It is packaged pre-shredded and work fine. My reason for doing so is that we both love this dish, however we don't have the financial capabilities to purchase fresh chunks of cheese, nor do I have the time to shred it myself.
I do omit the cayenne, I like the flavour as it is.
This dish is freeze-able, just place the remainders in your fridge 24 hours before you plan to serve it again, and reheat in the oven or the microwave.
Honestly, this is the best M&C recipe I have ever found. I know some of you are M&C connoseirs, however I think after you've tried this you will never, ever be able to eat Velveeta M&C or Kraft instant M&C ever again. John can't, I can't.
Robin, January 14 And now here's my version =) On Wed, 12 Jan 2000 12:31:07 -0600, amemily wrote... > 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for dish Didn't read ahead, began recipe by melting entire stick. Easily remedied by dumping about 2 T. worth into the bread crumbs. > 6 slices good white bread, crusts removed, torn into ¼-to-1/2-inch > pieces No white bread (didn't go to the grocery for this one, which will soon become clear) so I used frozen seven-grain. Worked fine, although I suspect good white bread would have been better. Oh, and I made the bread crumbs in the food processor, because I didn't catch the "torn" part. I noticed about halfway through, so we had an eclectic collection of bread crumb sizes. > 5 ½ cups milk That was exactly how much milk we had, so I poured half a cup back so Eric would have milk for cereal in the morning. > 2 teaspoons salt > ¼ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper > ¼ teaspoons cayenne pepper, or to taste Didn't read salt and pepper amounts at all, just threw in "a reasonable amount". Must've added enough salt at the table to bring it up to 2 t.! Left out the cayenne, because I dont' have any. > 4 ½ cups (about 18 oz) grated sharp white cheese Only had about 2 c. of sharp Cheddar, so used montery jack for the rest. Could have had a bit more "bite", will use all Cheddar next time. Question: I couldn't find some of the cheese. The recipe called for adding 3 c. of cheddar, but I couldn't find the other 1.5! I threw it all in then... > 2 cups (about 8 oz) grated Gruyere or 1 ¼ C (about 5 oz) Pecorino > Romano cheese Sort of a strange choice IMO, since I think Gruyere and Romano are *nothing* alike. Not a big fan of Romano, had Parmesan, used parmesan. Made for especially yummy crispy bits of crust. > 1 pound elbow macaroni I have an aversion to elbows, used shells =) And other than that, I followed the recipe! Yummy, definitely a keeper.
Barbara Elizabeth Warner, January 16 a great recipe for homemade mac n' cheese :-) We really, really liked this dinner. It was marginally cheaper and much better than the trays of mac n/ cheese which DH bought when I was living out of town...although naturally it's a lee-tle more work :-) I omited just one ingredient -- the cayenne pepper as we don't have any (and wouuldn't have another use of it if we bought it) I used grated Romano cheese (from a bottle - cheaper and in a easier to use container than the fresher store grated kind where we were shopping); we couldn't find any "real" Gruyere, just process cheese flavoured which was marked "Gruyere flabour" - that seemed wierd and it was definitely too soft to grate properly so we used the Romano. I did have some problems *making* the recipe, as following the instructions was more complicated for my silly old brain than if I'd managed to just see that it was calling for me to (a) cook macaroni; (b) make a basic cheese sauce, with extra Romano cheese, salt, and pepper; (c) mix these together; (d) top with bread cubes tossed with melted cheese, and more cheese; (e) brown the top! Now that I've figured all that out, I'm sure I'll have an easier time. I *never* make white sauces or cheese sauces on the stove, so I ended up having trouble and added extra flour to help the sauce thicken -- when I do it in the microwave, it only needs stirring after it's out, much easier than constantly stirring over the burner. I don't think I was ever taught how to do it on the stove, so I didn't have any previous behaviour to remember or rely on. It felt like I used every measuring cup, stirring utencil and extra bowl in the kitchen, but it was well worth it. I made the whole recipe, which means Julian has more than enough to use during the week, and even more to put in the freezer for later consumption by us both ;-) We've printed the recipe and it's going in our recipe box (along with abbreviated instructions on the side ). Cheers, Barbara Oops - I forgot to include the other slight changes I made: I used 4 cups skim milk made from powder, 1 cup fresh and 1/2 cup cream (which I had bought in case the recipe called for it; it didn't but I thought it would be good to use it anyway.) Next time, I don't think i'd bother with the cream, as thedish was rather rich for my little tummy :-( I would recommend using milk from powder as it's much cheaper and easier to store than fresh milk...we're always running out of milk, it seems, so powdered is useful when cooking, particularly when using big quantities. Also, I used a dutch oven type pot / casserole for making the sauce. Once the sauce, cheese and macaroni were all mixed, it seemed silly to transfer all of it to yet another dish (despite having already greased a good casserole/lasagne dish for it). So, I just used the pot - put the extra cheese and breadcrumbs on top, and poppped it in the oven. (This pot has handles on either side, is roughly 3 quarts, has a lid and is recommended for stove top and oven use). If you can make the sauce in something which will also go into your oven, I recommend it - for cutting down prep time and aggravation, as well as shorter clean up! I think that's it. --Barbara
cjr, January 17 I figured I'd make this recipe yesterday, as I could store it for a few lunches. Unfortunately, my previously mild lactose intolerant problem is has gotten increasingly less mild, and the mixture of lots of milk and cheese didn't do it much good. :-( I have to start remembering this before I eat milk products. It was good though, and I'm passing the recipe along to DF, but have a couple of questions/comments - > Personal notes about this dish: > Regarding the cheeses. I rarely find the sharp cheddar cheese in the > grocery store, and if I can't find it, I just use mild cheddar Is this an Aussie dish or an American one? And, do Aussies have gradings of cheese as in the UK? I ask because I'm trying to figure out what the 'sharpness' should be. eg, most "extra sharp cheddar" in the US is mostly equivalent to mild cheddar in the UK. (Vermont white extra-sharp is a little closer to the UK cheddar, but I can't get that here in IN). I used extra-sharp cheddar, which worked ok. > As for the other cheeses, the one I use is DiGiorno Romano cheese. It > is packaged pre-shredded and work fine. My reason for doing so is that > we both love this dish, however we don't have the financial > capabilities to purchase fresh chunks of cheese, nor do I have the > time to shred it myself. Yup - guyere is a wonderful cheese, but just happened to be the most expensive cheese is the store! (US$11/pound), so I also got pre-shredded romano which was half the price. I added a bit of paremsan as well. > I do omit the cayenne, I like the flavour as it is. I can see why it's in the recipe. I didn't use it as I didn't have any on hand, but I thought it needed an extra kick. I added some paprika, mostly for colour, and a bit of oregano. I should have thought to add those little red chile pepper flakes sitting in my cupboard, but didn't think of that til afterwards. Also, I sauted onions, garlic, peppers and shrimp to serve with it. Overall, a keeper, if I can just remember to take my tablets (some digestive aid) before I eat it! C.
amemily, January 17 cjr wrote: > Is this an Aussie dish or an American one? And, do Aussies have > gradings of cheese as in the UK? I ask because I'm trying to figure > out what the 'sharpness' should be. eg, most "extra sharp cheddar" in > the US is mostly equivalent to mild cheddar in the UK. (Vermont white > extra-sharp is a little closer to the UK cheddar, but I can't get that > here in IN). I used extra-sharp cheddar, which worked ok. It's an American dish. Although, most Mac'n'Cheese that i've eaten in Australia isn't made from a mock-cheese (Velveeta, etc), it's made from a parmesan based cheese sauce, with bread crumbs sprinkled on top. If we don't have the money for sharp cheddar, I usually grab a bag of Mild Cheddar from the grocery store. The flavour is still good, just not as intense. > Yup - guyere is a wonderful cheese, but just happened to be the most > expensive cheese is the store! (US$11/pound), so I also got > pre-shredded romano which was half the price. I added a bit of > paremsan as well. I agree, if I were to make this for an extremely important occaision, I would splurge on the expensive cheese, however I like the way it tastes with the grated Romano. > > I do omit the cayenne, I like the flavour as it is. > > I can see why it's in the recipe. I didn't use it as I didn't have any > on hand, but I thought it needed an extra kick. I added some paprika, > mostly for colour, and a bit of oregano. I should have thought to add > those little red chile pepper flakes sitting in my cupboard, but > didn't think of that til afterwards. Another option is to add some small pieces of broccoli in it, which would also help give it a new burst of flavour, and some nice colour too. Liz
ghd, January 19 I made the Gourmet Mac & cheese last night. I found it to be pretty easy, although it did seem to use every pan in the house. In the interest of Dh's high cholesterol, I made it with the regular romano and Heathy Choice 97% fat-free cheddar cheese and skim milk. Although I was tempted to reduce it, I left the butter in. It came out okay, I thought. Hubby loved it, but then again, all you have to do is mention Mac & Cheese and he's drooling. I think it would have been better with the sharp, full-fat cheddar, however. Maybe when his cholesterol is below 200 I'll think about it. I'm eating it for lunch as I write this, so I can verify it reheats nicely! Thanks for the recipe! Gretchen
JulieD3964, January 23 I made this earlier this week and we still have plenty left in the fridge. We used sharp white cheddar and I splurged on the Gruyere because Matt loves it. Perhaps I didn't let the milk and roux thicken enough on the stove because when I made the cheese sauce and mixed in the elbow noodles, everything was mighty soupy. We quickly cooked up another package of pasta (campanella - bellflowers) and added that to it so we had two pounds of pasta which completely filled a 5.5 quart Dutch oven. The only additional ingredient I added was some paprika - oh, and we did use the cayenne pepper. I just made the roux in the Dutch oven on the stove since it's oven safe, mixed in the cheese sauce and added the pasta to it. Saves on at least one more dish to was that way. Matt really liked this recipe. As usual, I'm really picky. I was happy with my first few forkfuls but soon had had enough. I couldn't eat the bellflowers because the texture turned me off. There was something just not connecting for me with the taste. I must be one of the few people who actually prefers Kraft dinner. Since we made enough mac & cheese for an army Friday night and I'm not eating it, Matt is quickly getting tired of it. He's had it for three meals straight now and will be eating it for at least lunch again today. If anyone in the NOVA area wants some mac & cheese, please let me know. :) It's a great recipe if you like mac & cheese! Matt said he'd be happy to have it made for him again in a much smaller proportion in a few months. Julie
Jenni, February 14 In honor of Valentine's Day, I decided to try out the recipe posted for homemade mac and cheese. It was well received by adult and kids. I will probably make it again for a special occasion, but it is a little too rich for casual dining! It was fairly complicated, mostly do to the fact that my stove only has two burners. (There's a grill where the other two should be!) I did follow the recipe except that I halved it and I didn't have Cayenne Pepper. Thanks for another keeper. -Jenni
RNR, March 10 I made the Liz' Macaroni and Cheese about a week and a half ago, but I accidentally doubled the cheddar cheese. I did leave in the cayenne pepper and we liked it that way. I also used buttermilk wheat instead of white bread, left the crusts on and pulsed them in the food processor to make them a bit finer. We loved it! This will definitely go into our regular meals. Regards, Ranee