Ingredients
Pasta
- 16 oz tubed pasta (I like to use cellentani)
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup flour
- 3 cup whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 4 cup (332g)(around 12oz) cheddar
- 2 cup (166g)(around 6oz) gruyere
Crust
- 1 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- Half a stick of butter
- 1/2 cup (50g)(around 2oz) parmesan
- 1/4 tsp (a pinch) smoked paprika
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Shred up all your cheese (a food processor makes this a breeze). Keep the parmesan separate, but the rest can all be shredded into one bowl.
- Cook the noodles to about 1 minute shy of al dente (check your box of pasta for how long that will take).
- While the pasta cooks, melt the butter for the crust, then mix together the crust ingredients, and set it aside.
- Once finished, drain the pasta, then coat the cooked noodles in olive oil and set them aside.
- Melt the butter for the pasta sauce in a saucepan.
- Whisk the flour into the butter over medium heat and let it cook for about a minute while you continue whisking.
- Gradually whisk in the milk, and then gradually whisk in the cream.
- Add some salt and pepper and continue whisking the mixture for about two more minutes.
- Take the mixture off of the heat and start slowly whisking in the cheese, bit by bit. Save just a little bit of cheese, though (roughly two or three tbsp should do)!
- Mix the cheese sauce into the noodles.
- Layer the pasta into a 9x13 pan with some of the cheese you saved sprinkled into the middle.
- Evenly spread the crust you made over the top.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
Additional Notes
- This is a very hearty, rich recipe! Great comfort food :)
- This may seem like a lot of steps, but it's really not that bad, I promise. Especially if you're comfortable making a roux, this will be a breeze. And if you're not too comfortable making a roux yet... This is a good recipe to get comfy with it! :)
- For the cheddar, you can use white or yellow. I actually like to use a mixture of both usually! :0
- For the bread crumbs, you can use home made or just some store bought panko (gluten free panko is good too!). Both will be tasty!
- The sauce is going to be pretty runny when it's hot, but don't worry. It thickens up considerably when you let it cool off enough to eat.
- You could just cook the pasta to completion, use all the cheese in the sauce (no need to save any), and mix it all up. No crust or baking required for a regular mac n' cheese! It'll be delicious all the same ^^
- If you want it extra extra cheesy, you can use all the shredded cheese listed in the sauce and then just shred more into the middle instead. I actually do it this way normally, but it's already a pretty heavy dish, so I listed the default recipe as I did it the first time :)
- If you want just a little bit more depth of flavor, you can add some garlic and/or onion powder to taste in the cheese sauce. It's not necessary but I think it's quite lovely :3