Mac and Cheese: the Supreme Comfort Food

It's been a really warm winter in NYC, which has put a damper on my urge to cook wintery comfort foods. So the other day I decided to ignore the weather and make the best comfort food of all time, Macaroni and Cheese. I haven't made macaroni and cheese in years and never from scratch, this probably has to do with my disdain for all things involving pasta. It's strange but true, as a general rule I don't like pasta. I looked up a few recipes to get the basic idea and decided to wing it. Mac and cheese ends up being a basic white sauce with cheese and cooked pasta. Easy and delicious. 

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons butter 
6 tablespoons flour 
1⁄2 tsp. cayenne pepper 
Salt and freshly ground white pepper 
4 cups milk 
4 cups grated sharp white cheddar 
1 lb. short macaroni, cooked 
1⁄2 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Melt 6 tablespoons of butter, add flour to make a roux. The roux is what thickens the sauce. Cook, stirring constantly, for about 4 minutes.  Make sure the roux foams and bubbles as it cooks, or sauce will taste of raw flour. 

Stir in cayenne and season to taste with salt and pepper. I used regular pepper as you can see in the photo below, if you don't want black specks in your sauce use white pepper. Whisk in milk, 1/2 cup at a time, and cook on medium heat, stirring, until sauce thickens. This can take a few minutes, I always get impatient and start worrying that I didn't add enough flour. Be patient, it will thicken. Reduce heat to low and stir in cheese, cooking until the cheese is melted.

Stir in cooked pasta.

Pour pasta and sauce into a 8" by 11" baking dish. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet, add bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture across the top of pasta and cheese. Bake until golden and bubbly about 30 minutes at 350°. To avoid cleaning cheese off the bottom of your oven, I would recommend placing a cookie sheet under the baking dish to catch any overflow.

Voila! You will now be eating mac and cheese for the rest of the week :) 

This recipe worked out really well, it was easy, cheesy and fulfilling. The best part is you can mix and match with any cheese or pasta you have laying around. It would work great with penne and a mixture of swiss cheeses. Now it just needs to stay cold for a full week so I can continue cooking comfort foods. I'm actually hoping that maybe we will even get some snow!