Baked Mac and Cheese

Tags: dinner - pasta - vegetarian - side
Active Time: 45 minutes
Passive Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 6-12

Extremely cheesy mac and cheese with breadcrumb topping

NY Times

• Sharp cheddar cheese: 16 oz, shredded
• Gruyere cheese: 8 oz, shredded
  
  
• Whole milk: 5.5 cups
  
  
• All purpose flour: 1/2 cup
• Unsalted butter: 6 tbsp
  
  
• Nutmeg: 1/4 tsp, ground
• Red chili powder: 1/4 tsp
• Black pepper: 1/4 tsp
• Kosher salt: 1 tbsp
  
  
• Elbow pasta: 1 lb
  
  
• Breadcrumb topping - see Notes

• For best results, add your topping of choice: Ritz crackers, panko bread crumbs, and/or 6 slices white bread broken into small squares tossed with 2 tbsp melted butter. I typically use both the white bread and the Ritz crackers

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Butter a 3 quart casserole dish
3. Warm milk over medium heat. In a separate large stock pot, melt butter until bubbling, then add flour and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add warm milk to stock pot slowly.
4. Whisk mixture constantly until it thickens and starts to bubble
5. Remove pot from heat, add 300 g (~3 cups) cheddar and 170 g (~1.5 cups) gruyere. Add nutmeg, black pepper, red pepper, and salt; whisk until smooth
6. Cook macaroni a bit less than al-dente. Mix together with cheese sauce and pour mixture into casserole
7. Sprinkle remaining cheese and optional topping over casserole. Bake for ~30 minutes