Kitchen

Mac and Cheese by Wysteria 

The Recipe and Instructions

First, I made a roux with about 2 tbsp. of butter, letting it melt on low to medium heat (3-4), then I added 1/3 of a cup of flour. When it made a paste in the pan, I slowly started adding milk, about a ¼ cup at a time, mixing it in until it was a smooth paste before adding more. I put about a total of 2 cups of milk in. If you want your mac and cheese to be richer, you can take some of the milk out and replace it with cream.  While you get the roux cooking, start to boil water for macaroni noodles, cooking them through, then straining them. I used about 1 ½ cups of dry pasta. Strain the pasta and put it in an oven proof dish.

Next I added in some seasoning while I let the sauce build up to a low simmer. I added 1 ½ tsp. of smoked paprika, about a tsp. of hot sauce (or if you measure like me, 2 squirts) this amount of hot sauce isn’t very noticeable by the time you add in the cheese, and I also added salt and pepper to taste, personally using about a tsp. of each. After the sauce came to a simmer I add in 1 ½ to 2 cups of shredded cheese, mixing it in until it was completely melted.

Once your cheese sauce is completed, pour it over the noodles and mix it up, making sure all the noodles have cheese sauce on them.

When making mac and cheese, it’s great to use left overs in your fridge! Sometimes it’s good to steam veggies, puree them then add them to the sauce, or adding any sort of meet, like chicken, bacon, ham, turkey, anything! For this version of mac and cheese, I added 1 cup of shredded left over lamb from the night before on top, and ½ cup green peas. The peas and lamb give the pasta an extra kick making it more of a full meal then just a side dish. I sprinkle about ½ cup of shredded cheese on top and baked it for 10 minutes at 350®F. This recipe makes about three servings worth.

Opinion

This mac and Cheese was amazing! One of the best that I’d ever had. It was extremely delicious flavorful, and filling. I would definitely make it again, and serve it to friends and family.

Tips

Remember when making any type of creamy cheese sauce to add the cheese in at the very last moment, and that the cheese will overpower almost everything, so it’s okay to add a bit more spice and seasoning then you would usually put.