Thinking Outside the Box: the Craft of Real Macaroni and Cheese
Thinking Outside the Box: the Craft of Real Macaroni and Cheese is a main course that serves 4. For $1.14 per serving, this recipe covers 19% of your daily requirements of vitamins and minerals. One serving contains 571 calories, 26g of protein, and 23g of fat. 813 people found this recipe to be tasty and satisfying. It is an affordable recipe for fans of American food. If you have black pepper, sea salt, unsalted butter, and a few other ingredients on hand, you can make it. It is brought to you by The Culinary Life. From preparation to the plate, this recipe takes around 25 minutes. With a spoonacular score of 72%, this dish is pretty good. Try Boston Market Macaroni and Cheese – forget the stuff in the blue box, take a few more minutes, and serve up a tasty home made macaroni and cheese, Not-from-a-Box Macaroni and Cheese, and Macaroni and Cheese – home made macaroni and cheese is a comfort food that is hard to beat. You can put away the pre packaged macaroni and cheese at the store for similar recipes.
Servings: 4
Preparation duration: 10 minutes
Cooking duration: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
Freshly-ground black pepper
10 ounces of dry elbow macaroni
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1 cup chopped pre-cooked vegetables (optional – I like broccoli, peas, cauliflower, and asparagus)
Sea salt
2 cups shredded cheese (mix and match between the following meltable varieties: cheddar, monterey jack, gruyere, gouda, fontina, havarti)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Equipment:
pot
colander
sauce pan
spatula
Cooking instruction summary:
Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain the pasta through a colander and set aside.Heat the milk in a small saucepan over low heat. As soon as the milk starts to steam and form tiny bubbles around its edges, turn the heat as low as it will go. The goal is to keep the milk warm but prevent it from boiling.Place the butter in a saucepan and melt over medium flame. Add the flour and stir with a heat-proof spatula just until the roux begins to take a light brown color, about 3 minutes, scraping the bottom to prevent burning. Once it’s done, the roux should smell liked cooked butter and flour.Slowly add the milk and stir constantly until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove the sauce from the heat. Add shredded cheese and stir until completely melted. Stir in chopped vegetables, if using. Season with salt and pepper to taste.Pour sauce over pasta and stir to coat the noodles. Serve immediately.
Step by step:
1. Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente.
2. Drain the pasta through a colander and set aside.
3. Heat the milk in a small saucepan over low heat. As soon as the milk starts to steam and form tiny bubbles around its edges, turn the heat as low as it will go. The goal is to keep the milk warm but prevent it from boiling.
4. Place the butter in a saucepan and melt over medium flame.
5. Add the flour and stir with a heat-proof spatula just until the roux begins to take a light brown color, about 3 minutes, scraping the bottom to prevent burning. Once it’s done, the roux should smell liked cooked butter and flour.Slowly add the milk and stir constantly until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
6. Remove the sauce from the heat.
7. Add shredded cheese and stir until completely melted. Stir in chopped vegetables, if using. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. Pour sauce over pasta and stir to coat the noodles.
9. Serve immediately.
Nutrition Information:
covered percent of daily need
