Homemade Mac & Cheese



This is a dish which can be prepared quickly and with ingredients that most homes have on hand. Ruby especially loves this and it's a perfect answer to the question of "what are we going to eat?" if it's getting close to dinner and you have prepared nothing.

I love making this dish because it applies some of the fundamentals I learned in the "Fine Art of Cooking" series at Orson Gygi. This includes making a roux (butter cooked with flour as a thickening agent); a bechamel sauce (cream added to a roux); and a mourne sauce (cheese added to a bechamel sauce). A mourne sauce mixed with noodles = mac & cheese.

Homemade Mac & Cheese

1 lb. elbow macaroni
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1 pint heavy cream
1/2 cup monterey jack cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Salt and white pepper to taste

Boil elbow macaroni in salted water. In a saucepan mix butter and flour; when cooked together in a paste, add heavy cream 3/4 cup at a time, whisking constantly. When sauce is the consistency of gravy, add monterey and parmesan cheese; cooked until melted. Add salt and white pepper to taste. Mix with cooked noodles. Enjoy.

Note: use real parmesan cheese, not the powdered Kraft type that you shake over your spaghetti.  

I hope that you enjoy this dish as much as my family does.

Happy Eating.