Baked Macaroni Cheese
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(0 votes)
Difficulty:
easy
Difficulty
Preparation:
40 min.
Preparation
ready in 1 hr 15 min.
Ready in
Ingredients
for
8
- Bread Crumb Topping
- 6 slices sandwich white bread (roughly torn into pieces)
- 3 Tbsps unsalted butter (divided into 6 pieces)
- Macaroni and Cheese
- salt (to taste)
- 8 cups dry Elbow macaroni
- 5 Tbsps unsalted butter
- 6 Tbsps all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsps Dry mustard
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
- 5 cups Whole milk
- 2 cups monterey jack cheese (shredded)
- 2 cups sharp Cheddar cheese (shredded)
- freshly ground Black pepper (to taste)
Preparation steps
1.
For Bread Crumb Topping:
2.
Pulse bread and butter in food processor until crumbs are no larger than 1/8-inch, or about ten to fifteen 1-second pulses. Set aside.
3.
For Macaroni and Cheese:
4.
Bring 4 quarts salted water to a boil in a Dutch oven over high heat. Add macaroni; cook according to package instructions until pasta is tender (al dente). Drain pasta and set aside in colander.
5.
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat broiler. Coat a broiler-safe 9 x 13-inch baking dish or pan with nonstick cooking spray or butter.
6.
In the empty Dutch oven, heat butter over medium-high heat until foaming. Add flour, mustard, and cayenne (if using) and whisk well to combine. Continue whisking until mixture becomes fragrant and deepens in color, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk; bring mixture to boil, whisking constantly (mixture must reach full boil to fully thicken). Reduce heat to medium and simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened to consistency of heavy cream, about 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat source, whisk in cheeses and 1 teaspoon salt, stirring until cheeses are fully melted. Add pasta and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is steaming and heated through, about 4 to 6 minutes.
7.
Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish and sprinkle evenly with bread crumbs. Broil until crumbs are deep golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes, rotating pan if necessary for even browning. Cool about 5 minutes; serve.
