Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

Every other Sunday we have everyone over for Sunday dinner. Being in an all boy family we have always been huge meat and potato eaters but since we now have two girls in our family we have found that our manly way of eating isn’t cutting it. We have tried to add more salads, fruits and veggies to our meals, But I struggle to find main dishes that they both like, I noticed that both Breecia and Kaiti love pasta, and pasta isn’t really something I eat a lot of so this sunday we decided we would attempt to make homemade Macaroni and Cheese. I had no clue where to start so I looked up recipes online, and of course Martha Stewarts recipe was the first one to pop up and I figured if it’s good enough for Martha, It would be good enough for us! Here’s a link to the recipe i used.

Ingredients

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for casserole
6 slices white bread, crusts removed, torn into 1/4- to l/2-inch pieces
5 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons coarse salt, plus more for water
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 1/2 cups (about 18 ounces) grated sharp white cheddar cheese
2 cups (about 8 ounces) grated Gruyère or 1 1/4 cups (about 5 ounces) grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 pound elbow macaroni

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter a 3-quart casserole dish; set aside. Place the bread in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Pour the melted butter into the bowl with the bread, and toss. Set the breadcrumbs aside.

Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Melt the remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a high-sided skillet over medium heat. When the butter bubbles, add the flour. Cook, stirring, 1 minute.

While whisking, slowly pour in the hot milk a little at a time to keep mixture smooth. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick, 8 to 12 minutes

Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, 3 cups cheddar cheese, and 1 1/2 cups Gruyère (or 1 cup Pecorino Romano); set the cheese sauce aside.

Cover a large pot of salted water, and bring to a boil. Cook the macaroni until the outside of pasta is cooked and the inside is underdone, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the macaroni to a colander, rinse under cold running water, and drain well. Stir the macaroni into the reserved cheese sauce.

Pour the mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup Gruyère (or 1/4 cup Pecorino Romano), and the breadcrumbs over the top. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Transfer the dish to a wire rack for 5 minutes; serve.

I was pretty impressed with how well this turned out! It was delicious!! That crispy browned bread crumbs and cheese had to be my favorite part,But man oh man I was surprised to see how much cheese went into this! Definitely not something to be eaten everyday! I also learned a few things, When a recipe calls for strange ingredients just do it. I made the cheese sauce but wasn’t going to put nutmeg in it at first because it sounded like a weird thing to put in, but I figured I should just follow the recipe I mean Martha knows what she is doing after all… I tasted the cheese sauce before the nutmeg and after and man it was so much better after! Weird! Who knew?!? I guess Martha did! LOL

So there you have it, every once and a while it’s fun to try new things, I am not going to lie I was a little surprised at how much it costs to make… fancy cheeses aren’t cheap!
But definitely worth the splurge every now and then!

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