Enjoy a twofer today: two recipes for macaroni and cheese!
This isn’t my favorite mac and cheese recipe, but it’s a close second. It uses blue cheese (along with sharp cheddar) to give the mac and cheese a complex, “adult” flavor.
It’s best to not skimp on the ingredients when making this dish. Since it’s designed to appeal to adult tastes, this mac and cheese would taste heavenly with crumbled Stilton and a fine sharp English cheddar. The packs of “regular” shredded cheddar and tubs of blue cheese in your grocer’s dairy counter will work OK… but the dish will not be nearly as good!
Ingredients:
1 pound elbow macaroni
4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups whole milk
1 cup whipping cream
2 1/2 cups plus 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated and divided
2 cups blue cheese, crumbled
Hardware:
1 large skillet
1 large pot
1 13×9″ pan
1 colander or strainer
Cooking spray or butter
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13×9 baking pan using cooking spray (or butter if you really want to be naughty!)
2) Cook the macaroni per package directions. For best results, try to undercook the pasta just a wee bit, so that it’s still very much al dente. Drain and leave in strainer until the sauce is ready.
3) Melt the butter in the large skillet over medium heat. When almost completely melted, add the flour. Stir constantly to let the roux cook for several minutes (until the roux almost starts bubbling and no longer tastes like flour.
4) Gradually whisk in the milk and cream, and simmer until mixture thickens, whisking constantly.
5) Reduce heat to low and slowly add the 2 1/2 cups of grated cheddar and crumbled blue cheese. Whisk until cheese melts, about 2 minutes, then season with salt and pepper.
6) Add cooked pasta to sauce and mix well.
7) Transfer mixture to prepared pan and sprinkle with remaining cheddar.
8) Bake until golden brown on top and bubbling, around 25 minutes.