I love homemade baked macaroni and cheese. I have tried many recipes over the years and have taken the things I liked out of many of them, and threw in some personal touches, to create my own unique recipe. The problem with having your own personal, and might I add, unwritten, recipe, is that it is more likely for some element to be forgotten and for things to go awry. Such was the case a week and a half ago when the Hubs and I hosted the Predicate for an evening of Project Runway viewing and mac and cheese eating.
Where things went wrong was with the roux. I thought I had remembered that I usually put one tablespoon of flour into the roux for each cup of milk that would go into the béchamel, so I put in five tablespoons of flour for five cups of milk. Maybe I was just being impatient, but after a few minutes, the béchamel was not thickening. Knowing that adding raw flour to a béchamel can make the sauce taste, well, floury, I was hesitant to add more, but didn’t know what else to do, so mixed up one more tablespoon with a bit of milk and added it to the mix. Still no thickening action. Shucks. I added one more tablespoon. It got very thick very quickly, but, as I feared, tasted floury. I thought the cheese might cover up the taste of flour so I took the sauce beyond the point of no return and added all the cheese, only to find the floury taste remained.
I think it probably would have been okay with just the one extra tablespoon of flour and a bit more patience! It was a bit less floury after baking, and The Predicate (I suspect out of kindness) said it didn’t taste floury to her, but the Hubs and I were both dissatisfied. Luckily, when we reheated it the next day for a dinner of leftovers, the floury taste was magically gone, so it wasn’t a totally wasted effort. In any case, the recipe below accounts for an extra tablespoon of flour. But if you have a béchamel recipe that works for you, by all means, use that as a starting point for this recipe.
When making baked macaroni and cheese, it is essential to use a soft, creamy cheese, and is best to use a soft creamy cheese in combination with a harder, sharper, cheese to impart more complex flavor. I have used all sorts of combinations, but this time I used smoked gouda (which the Predicate said added a yummy bacony flavor) in combination with asiago and parmesan. Some recipes call for less cheese than this does, but I find one pound of cheese to one pound of pasta works best (a suggestion I picked up from America’s Test Kitchen, and they should know). Macaroni and cheese in any form is not a health food, so go ahead and go for the gold, I say. (And don’t worry, Mom, we ate it with a vegetable!)
The hidden surprise of tomatoes was a little trick I learned from one of my favorite all-time chefs: Jacques Pepin. (Though I put more tomato in my recipe than he does.) The spicy breadcrumb topping is my invention, as is the idea of shredding the butter (most mac and cheese recipes call for daubs of butter to be placed on top, but I think shredding leads to better distribution of butter, which in turn leads to more crispiness!) I hope you enjoy it!
Gastronormous Macaroni and Cheese
1 lb of cavatappi, elbows, or penne
1 large tomato, chopped in a medium dice2 T butter
2 T olive oil
6 T flour
5 cups milk
salt and pepper
1 lb of cheese, in a combination of your choice (at least half a pound should be a soft, creamy cheese), in a small/medium dice or shredded1 c plain breadcrumbs (not panko)
3/4 c grated (not shredded) parmesan cheese
2 tsp cayenne pepper (or more, to your taste)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper
4 T butter, shredded on a cheese shredder and refrigeratedBoil pasta in a generous amount of salted water. Cook for a minute or two less than package directions. Drain and spread in a large casserole dish. Spread tomatoes over the top and then sort of tuck the tomatoes in, so that they are not completely on top of the pasta.
In the meantime, heat the butter and oil over medium heat. When melted but not bubbling, add the flour and whisk vigorously and continuously until a smooth paste is formed and keep cooking (and whisking) for a few minutes more (but do NOT let it brown). Add about a 1/4 cup of milk and whisk until sooth, then add the rest of the milk in a slow, steady stream, whisking the whole time. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Cook (whisking fairly often) over medium heat until the sauce has thickened, 5-10 minutes. Add cheese and stir until melted. Pour sauce over pasta and tomatoes.
Combine breadcrumbs, grated cheese, and spices in a small bowl. Taste and adjust seasonings if desired. Add shredded butter and toss lightly with a fork (if made ahead, keep in fridge until ready to use so that butter retains its shape)). Spread mixture evenly over the top of the pasta, and bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the top is crispy and sauce is bubbling. Let stand for a minute or two before serving.
Serves 6-8 people.
Note 1 : I used a pasta shape called cavatappi (also called cellentani), which is a ridged tube pasta in a spiral shape. It is great shape for cream sauces because they really grip to the pasta well.
Note 2: I am a fan of panko bread crumbs in general, but here they just don’t work. They don’t have the heft that is necessary to settle into the sauce.
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