The other day I was reading a blog post that mentioned what someone would eat if they could only eat one thing for the rest of their life. She had some ridiculous sounding dish that was overly complex, but considering that it was her hypothetical only meal it was understandable. Since reading that post I’ve been thinking about it and all I’d ever want to eat was macaroni and cheese.
If you don’t know this already I love cheese. Not like the normal person does though, if I could subsist solely on a diet of cheese I probably would. I love every type of cheese that I’ve ever eaten, sure some more than others, but I honestly can’t get enough of cheese. There are so many possibilities and combinations between types of cheeses and pastas that I could probably eat it three times a day for a year and not run out of combinations…. This is tempting.
Anyway back to this blog. For a while I sat there thinking about all of the possible combinations of macaroni and cheese that I could possibly make. I finally decided to turn to the wonderful and trustworthy internet to find a recipe that would diminish my craving, and the recipe I found definitely didn’t let me down.
The recipe is from a blog called “My Cooking Quest” and the post is titled “Perfect Mac and Cheese” and all things considered, this recipe lives up to its name. It takes about an hour to make, but it’s well worth the wait. The final product is gooey, cheesy, spicy, creamy and just all around delicious. I’d make it again in a heartbeat (and I probably will when I’m home for break next week). I changed the original recipe a bit and added pepper jack to add a little kick to the cheese, and I couldn’t have been happier with it. This recipe is easily adaptable so if you want to substitute a different cheese you can go ahead, but you really need to make this recipe.
Here’s what you’ll need:
8-12* ounces of large hollow pasta (I used rigatoni)
Two Cups of Beesher’s Flagship Cheese sauce (see below)
2 ounces grated cheese (I used one ounce of Cheddar and one ounce of pepper jack)
¼ - ½ teaspoon chipotle powder
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter the cooking dish. You can use an 8-inch dish or a pie dish; I chose to use a pie dish instead. Cook the pasta for two minutes less than the cooking directions so that they’re very al-dente. The pasta will continue to cook in the oven, so don’t worry. Rinse the pasta with cold water and make sure it is thoroughly strained.
Combine the cooked pasta with the cheese sauce and mix so that all of the noodles are completely covered and filled with the cheese sauce. Sprinkle the top of the dish with the grated cheese and then with the chipotle powder.
Cook for 20-30 minutes or until the top has formed a golden crust.
For the Beesher’s Flagship Cheese Sauce:
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
14 ounces semi-hard cheese, grated (I used New York Extra-sharp Cheddar)
2 ounces grated semi-soft cheese (I decided to use Pepper jack)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon chile powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Grate the cheddar and pepper jack and place in a bowl or on a plate to the side. Measure the salt, chili powder and garlic powder. Place in a small bowl and put it to the side.
Melt the Butter in a sauce pan over medium and add the flour. Mix together until they’re thoroughly incorporated. Slowly add the milk and stir for about 10 minutes or until the sauce starts to thicken.
Once the mixture thickens remove from heat and add the cheese, chili powder and garlic powder and stir. Continue to stir until the ingredients completely mix and there are no lumps. This took me about two to three minutes of stirring. After this the sauce is done!
This recipe is much simpler than it seems, and for the time and effort that you put in it’s definitely worth it. The leftovers are amazing as well, so give it a try—it definitely beats Kraft!
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