Mac and Cheese

Ingredients

• 16 oz elbow macaroni
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 6 tbsp butter
• ⅓ cup flour
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 16 oz (4 cups) extra sharp cheddar cheese
• 8 oz (2 cups) smoked gruyere cheese
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp butter
• ½ cup parmesan cheese
• ¼ tsp paprika
• ¼ tsp salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cook pasta to ~1 minute less than al dente
3. Drain and rinse pasta
4. Coat pasta in olive oil and set aside
5. Shred cheddar and gruyere and mix together
6. Melt 6 tbsp butter in large pot
7. Whisk in flour over medium heat until golden and bubbly
8. Slowly whisk in milk and heavy cream until bubbles on surface
9. Whisk another two minutes
10. Whisk in 1 tsp salt and dash of pepper
11. Slowly stir in 4 cups of the cheese
12. Stir in pasta
13. Coat 13x9 pan with olive oil
14. Pour in ½ of the pasta mix into the pan
15. Cover with remaining cheese blend
16. Pour in other half of the pasta mix
17. In another bowl, melt 4 tbsp butter
18. Stir in panko crumbs, parmesan, dash of butter, and paprika
19. Sprinkle over top of pasta mix
20. Bake for 30 minutes until bubbly

Notes

Source

This is the best mac and cheese we've ever had. Cadence cooked it for the first time 8/31/20 and it was amazing.

Source says you can do other cheese blends. They recommend mozzarella, jack, pepper jack as others that work well.

Source also says panko is better than bread crumbs. The first time we had it was with bread crumbs