Jack Mac and the Cheese Attack (Crazy Good Mac & Cheese)
Happy National Cheese Day! Any excuse to make a family favorite, mac and cheese. I love mac and cheese. I unabashedly admit as a kid, I looked forward to the blue box of Kraft’s “Cheese and Macaroni”. Pure marketing genius, neon yellow orange sauce. As I got older, my taste grew more sophisticated, the blue box was cast aside in favor of Stouffer’s Mac and Cheese from the freezer section of my supermarket, student life-student food. Come on, you can tell me, your college self loved Stouffer’s too.
When I had kids, my mac and cheese world expanded. Being one of those crazy moms, I vowed to keep, processed foods and fast foods to a minimum. I made macaroni and cheese from scratch and avoided my childhood favorites like Twinkies and Ho Hos. I look back and think maybe I went a little overboard. But I’m pretty sure their time in college more than made up for the lack of processed and fast foods when they were little.
So I spent a lot of years making Mac and cheese from scratch. I tweaked it to try to make it a little healthier by using 2% cheddar cheese, 2% milk, and substituted broth for some of the dairy. It was perfectly…
Adequate.
Now that the kids are adults, pasta all day everyday is a thing of the past. Mac and cheese has moved to occasional status-holidays, first day of winter, bowl of comfort day, or of course, National Cheese Day.
You know what that means…
Calorie laden, luscious, ooey-gooey, make you wanna slap your momma, no holds barred, damn delicious mac and cheese.
I adapted a recipe I found on the blog site, Chunky Chef, it’s BEASTLY GOOD. Soft macaroni, (no al dente noods please), super cheesy (6 cups of cheese in this bad boy), gooey (one of those cheeses is mozzarella), rich (no 2% cheese or milk was involved in the making of this), porkalicious (bacon makes everything better), and just because I can, a crispy, topping of butter toasted Ritz crackers crumbs. Yes, I went there.
Expect to run a marathon after eating this mac and cheese. Immediately after.
Start with making a classic bechamel by melting butter, adding flour for a roux and then gradually adding half and half and milk. You will end up with a sauce that is kind of thick but still pourable. Add copious amounts of hand-shredded cheese to this and season generously with salt and pepper, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Catch the hand shredded? Yes, don’t start with pre-shredded cheese which has “stuff” added to it so it doesn’t stick together.
Add the macaroni to the sauce, give it a good stir and layer half of the pasta in a buttered 9×13 casserole. Spread half of the remaining cheese on it and make another layer. Top with remaining cheese and buttery toasted crumbled Ritz crackers. Bake 15 minutes so the cheese gets all melty and amazing. Serve as soon as possible.
Let’s go crazy…
Infinite possibilities to add your own stamp to this:
To the sauce:
Cayenne or smoked paprika
Mustard for a tangy hit
To the dish before baking:
Add diced chilis to spice it up
Crumbled bacon or pulled pork would be awesome
Shellfish- crab, lobster, shrimp so decadent
For the macaroni:
Substitute blanched or roasted cauliflower for some of the pasta or all of it if you want
Or add your favorite veggie, I like broccoli or mushrooms
File this recipe in the not so back of your mind for the next time you have a hankering for mac and cheese.
Creamy Homemade Baked Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 lb. dried elbow pasta
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 2 1/2 cups half and half
- 4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese measured after grating
- 1 cup mozzarella shredded Measured after grating
- 1 cup grated Gruyere cheese measured after grating
- 1/2 Tbsp. salt Or T Kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp. paprika or smoked paprika
- 1/2-1 Tsp Cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and grease a 3 qt baking dish (9x13"). Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When boiling, add dried pasta and cook 1 minute less than the package directs for al dente. Drain and toss with a bit of butter to keep from sticking.
- Grate cheeses and toss together to mix, then divide into three piles. Approximately 3 cups for the sauce, 1 1/2 cups for the inner layer, and 1 1/2 cups for the topping.
- Melt butter in a large saucepan over MED heat. Sprinkle in flour and whisk to combine. Cook for approximately 1-2 minutes, whisking often. Slowly pour in about 2 cups of the milk/half and half, while whisking constantly, until smooth. Slowly pour in the remaining milk/half and half, while whisking constantly, until combined and smooth.
- Continue to cook over MED heat, whisking constantly, until thickened.
- Stir in spices and 1 1/2 cups of the cheeses, stirring to melt and combine. Stir in another 1 1/2 cups of cheese, and stir until completely melted and smooth.
- In a large bowl, combine drained pasta with cheese sauce, stirring to combine fully. Pour half of the pasta mixture into the prepared baking dish. Top with 1 1/2 cups of grated cheeses, then top that with the remaining pasta mixture.
- Coarsely crush Ritz crackers. Set aside. Melt 1 T butter in a pan. Add cracker crumbs and saute until toasty brown. Kinda optional.
- Sprinkle the top with the last 1 1/2 cups of cheese and cracker crumbs.
- Bake for 15 minutes, until cheesy is bubbly and lightly golden brown.
Notes
Mac and Cheese can be made ahead:
Make as directed (but do not bake), transfer to baking dish and cool completely. Cover tightly with foil and refrigerate 1-2 days ahead.
Before baking, let dish sit on counter for 30 minutes.
Bake at recipe temperature for 25-35 minutes, until hot and bubbly.
Cheesy White Bean Tomato Bake
What to do with all that leftover cheese from your scrumptious mac and cheese. Note to self, never buy your cheese from Costco, New York Times Cooking to the rescue. Easy-check. Quick-check. Uses up some of that extra cheese-check. Delicious-check. A riff on Korean Cheesy Corn, this is great dish for a happy hour, lunch paired with a green salad or late night munchie attack.
This dish is as easy as beans from a can. Really.
Taking my cue from NYT Cooking I tweaked the recipe, a lot. Not as much as everyone else judging from the comments, but enough to make it my own. I doubled the tomato paste, threw in a sprig of rosemary, sautéed shallots and diced red bell pepper along with the garlic and last but not least, added some bacon. You don’t have to.
Make it your own-add nothing, add everything-sausage, spinach, kale (never me), or use different beans.
Yum.