Gourmet Baked Macaroni and Cheese
This Mac ‘n Cheese has a personality to it, it’s definitely not from a box. It will comfort you and wake up your taste buds.
1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF and butter a 3-quart baking dish; set aside.
2. Make topping: Melt butter and in a bowl stir together with panko or regular bread crumbs and Cheddar until combined well.
3. Make sauce: In a 5-quart heavy saucepan melt butter over moderately low heat and stir in flour and red pepper flakes. Cook roux, stirring, 3 minutes and whisk in milk. Bring sauce to a boil, whisking constantly, and simmer, whisking occasionally, 3 minutes. Stir in cream, Cheddar, mustard, nutmeg, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Remove pan from heat.
4. Bring a large saucepan filled with water to a boil. Add macaroni and cook for 2-3 minutes less than the manufacturer's directions, until al dente. Drain the macaroni – reserve ½ cup cooking water - and rinse under cold water, drain again. Stir the macaroni into the cheese sauce and slowly add the reserved cooking water to make a nice ‘saucey’ consistency. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with the topping evenly over macaroni and bake in middle of oven until browned on top, about 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Gourmet Safari Rating Scales
Kitchen Confidence Rating Scale:
We’ve designed a handy ‘from the heart’ kitchen confidence rating scale for you to guide you through the recipes (yep, we think of everything)!
= Everyday deliciously simple. Pretty quick, just get the food on the table pronto!
= Put your heart into it! Takes a little more time ‘n TLC!
= Go the extra mile! Gourmet – takes time and/or special ingredients and/or technique – worth the extra effort for the impressive WOW factor!
= You walk on water! You must be a Chef!
Budget Rating Scale:
We’ve designed a handy budget rating scale for you to guide you (and your wallet) through the recipes. Recipes are graded from the ‘high-end caviar-type budget’ to the ‘lower-end spam canned meat type-budget’.
= Spam (aka low budget)
= Mac ‘n Cheese (aka mid budget)
= Filet Mignon (aka higher budget)
= Caviar (aka expensive…but you’re worth it!)
Ingredients
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF and butter a 3-quart baking dish; set aside.
2. Make topping: Melt butter and in a bowl stir together with panko or regular bread crumbs and Cheddar until combined well.
3. Make sauce: In a 5-quart heavy saucepan melt butter over moderately low heat and stir in flour and red pepper flakes. Cook roux, stirring, 3 minutes and whisk in milk. Bring sauce to a boil, whisking constantly, and simmer, whisking occasionally, 3 minutes. Stir in cream, Cheddar, mustard, nutmeg, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Remove pan from heat.
4. Bring a large saucepan filled with water to a boil. Add macaroni and cook for 2-3 minutes less than the manufacturer's directions, until al dente. Drain the macaroni – reserve ½ cup cooking water - and rinse under cold water, drain again. Stir the macaroni into the cheese sauce and slowly add the reserved cooking water to make a nice ‘saucey’ consistency. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with the topping evenly over macaroni and bake in middle of oven until browned on top, about 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
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