Your New Favorite Mac & Cheese
A creamy, delicious, custard based mac and cheese that is the real star of the holiday table. Made with a blend of 4 cheeses and ridged noodles, this mac and cheese gives you a saucy, cheesy bite each and every time. The recipe starts with hand-grated cheese that turns into a cheese sauce and ends up as a dish that is browned, bubbling and waiting to be devoured. Be the holiday hero and make this dish ASAP.
THREE-PEAT!! Yes that’s right! I have given ya’ll a new recipe 3 weeks in a row. I truly believe that means I’m BACK ya’ll! And not only did I just bring you all a recipe here on the blog. I did a full cooking tutorial on my Instagram Stories that I’ve saved, so there is a VIDEO!! This time I am back with a recipe that so many people have been asking me for, but one I wasn’t 100% ready to share. It took some time, testing and tasting and testing and tasting, but it is READY! That recipe, as you probably gathered from the title, is Macaroni and Cheese Insert Homer Drool Gif. I love mac and cheese. It’s one of those foods that completely represents comfort for me. So many family gatherings featured a pan of great mac and cheese, made by one of the family members actually authorized to make it. You read that right, not everyone can make the mac. Them the rules!
Get up close and personal with this mac and cheese before we go inside. Such a beautiful dish!
This recipe is a combination of my mom’s and aunt’s mac and cheese and 3 of my favorite food bloggers. The bloggers helped me with figuring out what proportions I felt were best, which has been a combination. But my mom and aunt helped me to define what flavor profiles I liked best and actually taught me the technical preparation of a roux to bechamel to mornay. Growing up I never knew these French terms, but I knew what they were, as they were the base to many of the southern dishes I grew up eating and eventually making. This recipe uses this technique to build a great sauce that coats the noodles and creates a custard like, smooth and dreamy sauce that makes you sink into your seat with each and every bite.
First glance inside. Creamy custard and noodles that grip every bit of sauce!
One of the things that make this recipe especially great is the blend of cheeses. I think it’s important to have a good balance of flavors that keep it interesting and hit every part of your mouth. Something sharp to stand up against the milky base, something creamy to keep the sauce luscious, something nutty to bring out the earthy flavors and help the spices stand out and then a bonus flavor. This can be a neutral flavor to bring it all together, or something with a kick, like pepper-jack for spiciness! In this blend, I go with extra sharp cheddar, mild cheddar, fontina and gruyere. This is my go to blend because it’s readily available cheeses that won’t cost you an arm and a leg (The cost of all of my cheeses was around $13 and I have lots left over). Some people go for very pungent cheeses, but I feel like too many conflicting flavors, or even one REALLY strong flavor can ruin the experience of comfort and with expensive cheeses, I think there are better uses than mac and cheese…and that’s saying a lot coming from me! In addition to those two cheeses, I also like to add a few pieces of whole-milk mozzarella for the stringy cheese-pull pics and some parmesan on the topping. Both of these are optional though!
The last thing I want to emphasize before we get into tips is the noodle you choose. So while this is macaroni and everyone’s always looking to make things…umm…unique, there are some noodles that work better than others. First things first, if you can find a noodle, macaroni or otherwise, that has ridges, go for it. I like to use the macaroni from Trader Joes. It comes in a 16oz package, which is the exact amount I use, the noodles are a big larger and they have deep ridges to catch all of that sauce. If you can’t go to TJs, just look through the viewer to see if the noodles available have ridges. Other noodles that work well are cavatappi, penne and penne mezzi. I would avoid noodles rotini and shells, they don’t grip the noodles well and the amount needed varies slightly, and you don’t want that when you’ve worked so hard to get this finished product! Right? Right.
Get all up in this mac and cheese!! So creamy and every bit delicious!
Before I post the recipe, I want to drop a few helpful hints that will help you should you run into any hangups along the way :
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Grate your cheese yourself! Pre-shredded cheese has an anti-clumping coating that makes your sauce oily and tend to separate. For faster shredding, use the grate attachment in your food processor (that’s what I do)
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Boil your noodles 2 mins under the recommended time on the box and immediately rinse with cold water. This keeps the noodles from overcooking and gives you a great finished macaroni and cheese without mushy noodles.
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If you have lumps in your sauce after adding and whisking your milk into your roux, use an immersion/stick blender to smooth it out, or add to a blender and blend for 30-45 seconds. Return to pot and continue from there.
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Keep the proportions if you want to half, double, triple or more. The recipe is made to be scalable! Also, if you want to make this ahead, add a 1/2 cup of milk when warming it.
Be the Holiday Hero by bringing Thee Best Macaroni and Cheese to the function! Believe me, you’ll be getting compliments long after the party’s over!
Don’t forget to tag me in your photos online @lizeeangel or using #lizeeangel. And as always, comment below and please, like, share and follow me on youtube, instagram, twitter, facebook and pinterest!
Thee Best Macaroni & Cheese
ingredients:
- 16oz Macaroni Noodles
- 5 cups whole milk
- 1 herb bouquet (thyme, parsley and bayleaves)
- 1 shallot, halved
- 2 oz flour (about 1/2 cup)
- 3 oz salted butter (about 6 tbsp)
- 1 tbsp worcestershire
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 8 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese
- 8 oz mild cheddar cheese
- 4 oz fontina cheese
- 4 oz gruyere cheese
- Kosher Salt to taste
- 1/3 c panko bread crumbs
- 1/3 c grated parmesan
- 1.5 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- Combine all ingredients and sprinkle on top of mac and cheese
instructions:
How to cook Thee Best Macaroni & Cheese
- Preheat oven to 375. Butter your baking dish and set aside.
- Using a box grater or a food processor with the grate attachment, shred cheeses and toss together to combine. Set Aside
- In a saucepan over low heat, put together milk, herb bouquet and shallot. Keep warm, but do not boil.
- In a deeper pot on medium low heat, melt butter . Whisk in flour and continue to whisk in pot to cook out raw flour taste, making sure not to brown. About 2 mins.
- Remove shallot & bayleaf from milk. Slowly stream in a little of the milk, while whisking to get smooth and remove lumps. Sauce will “tighten up” continue to whisk while adding in remaining milk.
- At this point, whisk to remove lumps. If the lumps persist, use an immersion blender or a traditional blender to smooth lumps, then return to pot and continue.
- Whisk in worcestershire, pepper, paprika, cayenne, mustard, garlic powder and onion powder. Switch to a spoon from a whisk, and stir constantly, about 7 mins.
- When sauce can coat back of spoon, add 3/4 of the cheese mixture and continue to stir until melted. At this point, taste the sauce and adjust for seasonings, including salt.
- Add in noodles and stir to coat and combine. Turn off and remove from heat.
- Fill your baking dish 1/2 way with mac and cheese. Add remaining 1/4 cheese and mozzarella. Top with remaining “Mac” and cheese.
- If baking immediately, top with breadcrumb topping. If making the next day, allow to cool and cover with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and place in fridge.
- Bake 25-30 mins, or until bubbly and browned. Rest for 15 mins, then serve. Enjoy!
