Tips For Making My Mac & Cheese:
1.) Depending on how thin you like your cheese sauce its always good to save a little bit of the pasta water just in case. Whenever I want to bake my mac and cheese I always add about 1/4 cup of water to finish cooking the pasta and so that the sauce doesn't thicken up too much.
2.) As for cheeses, you could use whatever cheeses you want but my favorite is smoked gouda (creamy, smokey, meaty flavor) american yellow (classic, creamy, & yellow) and a little bit of parmesan for that added sharpness. I generally don't like sharp cheese in my mac and cheese but if you do, go for it. I add in the parm so that I can control the sharpness of my cheese sauce.
3.) Make sure to slowly but steadily pour in your milk so that your flour doesn't seize up and it doesn't get lumpy. I've had tons of problems with my béchamel for yearrsssssss but if you cook your flour for 30 seconds once all the flour has been combines with the butter and you slowly add in you milk while constantly whisking it then you should be good to go!
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of flour
1 cup of milk
2 tablespoons of heavy cream
1/2 pound of smoked gouda, shredded (save to top )
4 slices of american yellow cheese
3 tablespoons of parmigiano reggiano, grated on a microplane
1 teaspoon of black pepper
pinch of salt
1/2 box of elbow macaroni
3 - 4 slices of mozzarella (optional, I added it cause I had some)
Instructions:
Start by boiling a pot of salted water. Once it begins to boil violently add in your macaroni noodles and cook until al dente. I followed the box instructions which was 8 minutes for me but do as yours instructs.
Next, in a medium saucepan melt the butter until it starts to bubble up a bit. Add in the flour and stir until you don't see any more flour. Let this cook for 30 seconds more.
Slowly pour in your milk and continuously stir. Once all your milk has been added go ahead and add in your heavy cream.
Now you can add in your cheese, I do this in three parts only because my saucepan isn't that big but if you use a large pan go ahead and add all your cheeses in. The main thing you want to accomplish here is to get all your cheeses melted and make a delicious and smooth cheese sauce.
At this point your macaroni should be done cooking so save about 1/2 cup of pasta water before you drain your noodles. Add the noodles to your cheese sauce and stir until every noodle has been coated.
At this point you can either eat it as is or you can bake it so that it has a nice, cheese-y, crispy top! If you want to eat it now and would like a thinner sauce you can pour in a little bit of the pasta water.
If you want to bake your mac and cheese, turn your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, add 1/4 cup of water to your mac and cheese to thin out your sauce. Then pour the mac and cheese into the baking dish and bake for 45 minutes!