Make this today. Regret it tomorrow. Who cares? So, when we were growing up, we didn’t have mashed potatoes and gravy with our turkey at Thanksgiving, we had mac n cheese. Up until about 10 years ago, my grandmommy would make it for all special occasions, and it was always the best. Well, 3 weeks ago, she passed away, and after her memorial we all talked about special grandmommy moments, and of course, being chubby mcfatso, my memory was of mac n cheese. When we were kids we boycotted it one year because someone told us there was mustard in it. Mustard is gross, and we were thinking ballpark mustard style mustard, so most of us passed on the mac. Now I realize that mustard was in fact her secret ingredient—but it was dried mustard powder, and it rocks. I now regret skipping out on the mac n cheese that year, and pretty sure I made up for what I missed after I made this recipe.
- 1 box cavatappi—these are grown up squiggles and are, in general, a badass noddle
- 1 quart milk
- 6 tbs butter
- 1/2 cup AP Flour
- 3 Cups grated gruyere cheese (a lot of times this is marketed as fondue cheese)
- 3 cups other cheese—I used 1.5 of white cheddar and 1.5 sharp 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp. Ground mustard
- ½ Cup shredded Colby jack cheese (for topping)
- Dash of shredded parmesan.(For topping)
Cook your pasta according to the box instructions, subtracting one minute. Drain the pasta, but don’t rinse it. While you’re cooking the squiggles, heat your milk in a small sauce pan but just get it hot enough to melt things, do not boil it. If you boil it, you lose, and the cheese will taste gross. In another pan (a larger one) melt 6 tablespoons of butter. This is what makes mac n cheese so ungodly delicious—making a roux. Once the butter has melted, add the flour slowly, whisking with one hand while you pour the flour with the other. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring the whole time. While you’re whisking, add the hot milk with a ladle, a little at a time and cook for about 2-3 minutes, until you have a sort of thick white sauce (gross). Turn the heat off and add all your cheese (except the toppings) and the mustard powder and some salt and pepper to taste . Once it’s all melty and gooey, add in the noodles and mix. Pour into a glass baking dish (greased with PAM), and sprinkle the last two cheeses on top. Put in a 350 degree oven til it’s all crunchy and delicious looking.
After adding in the noodles
This takes a bit of time, but making the cheese sauce like this is totally worth it. Don’t be so lazy—consider the standing and whisking time part of your workout.
Close up of the delicious-ness
