American Food Is Back With Mac

I'm celebrating my return to American Grub from French Cuisine with a heaping portion of Mac n' Cheese!

Another confession of mine. I have never successfully made a cheese sauce until today! I was scared out of my mind about attempting it, but after reading the directions about seventeen times to make sure I had it memorized, I braved the world of the unknown... creating a Bechamel sauce.

A Bechamel sauce is a white sauce made from flour, butter, warm milk, salt and pepper. Once you create this, then you add the shredded cheese with the pot off the heat.  Now in years past when I had tried to make this recipe, I always either used milk that wasn't hot enough or had too much heat under the sauce when I stirred in the cheese, or didn't know to use flour and butter. Maybe I didn't whisk it fast enough? Who knows! It was always a separated, odd looking mess! But what I learned today is that creating this cheese sauce was so much easier than I thought. I just needed to follow the steps correctly.

The Mac turned out to be delicious! I used a blend of four cheeses. Gruyere (which is a favorite of mine), Monterey Jack, Fontina (from Italy) and Sharp Cheddar.  I used all but the cheddar for the cheese sauce and then topped the mac with the cheddar once in was in the oven.

Here is the recipe: (adapted from Mr. Geoffrey Kidwell, adapted from Ina Garten)

Ingredients
• Salt 1 tbsp for salting pasta water 1tsp for seasoning
• Olive oil
• 1 pound elbow macaroni, cavatappi or cellentani
• 1 quart milk - That's 4 cups, in case you didn't know.
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 12 ounces grated Gruyere, Jack and Fontina cheese grated.
• 8 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups fresh white bread crumbs (5 slices, crusts removed) made in a food processor.

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Drizzle olive oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large (4-quart) pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the Gruyere, Jack and Fontina cheese, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 1/2 tsp nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and stir well. Pour into a 3-quart baking dish. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, combine them with the fresh bread crumbs, and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 10 minutes until bread crumbs brown slightly and then sprinkle the grated cheddar cheese on top. Return to the oven for 20 to 25 mins, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top. YUM!