This is how I make mine. It takes a tiny bit longer but it's oh so worth it. Super simple nothing special gourmet mac.
You can 1/2 the recipe to use with a 1/2 pound of pasta.
The Cheese sauce:
4 cups flour
5 - 8 strips of Bacon (4 tablespoons of rendered fat)
4 tablespoons of butter
2 cups of milk
1 to 1.5lb Cheese - get whatever is in the budget
Set the oven to 350* for making the breadcrumbs in a minute.
Melt the butter and add the flour while stirring to make a roux. Let that cook over medium heat until it smells nice. It will take 5-10 minutes, but don't put the stove too hot. Add in a little bit of milk and stir, then once it's all mixed well add the rest of the milk and stir. Bring to a boil then turn the stove off. Add in the cheese slowly, mixing well between additions. Add salt and pepper, blammo! Here is a video of someone demonstrating, it's very easy!
"whisk it into some pasta and you have instant macaroni and cheese, only the good kind."
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The topping:
1/2 Baguette (preferably one that is 1-2 days old, it saves 10 minutes)
Onion (two thick sandwich style slices)
5 cloves garlic
1/2 stick of butter
5 sprigs of parsley
5-8 strips of bacon (4tbs of rendered fat)
For clarity I've broken these two steps up, but you can easily do them simultaneously.
Garlic and onion flavored butter:
Cook the bacon over medium low heat for 10-15 minutes until all the fat has rendered out. Save 4tb of the rendered fat and put the rest away. Add the 4tb of fat to the butter and melt in a pan on medium heat.
Cut each clove in half and grab a few of the bigger rings of onion and throw it all into the fat mixture. Let it cook until the garlic looks like it's getting ready to burn. Turn the heat off and remove the garlic and onion from the pan.
Breadcrumbs
Break the 1/2 baguette into 3 or 4 big pieces. Pop that in the oven for a few minutes until it is lightly toasted. Take it out and break it into small breadcrumb size pieces. Lightly drizzle some of the butter over them and toss them back in the oven until they are lightly toasted. Smash those up into breadcrumbs and pour some more of the delicious butter all over them. Get em good! Salt and pepper, then mix in minced parsley.
The Macaroni:
1lb small elbow macaroni
1 tablespoon salt
Add the salt to the water and stir it in before you add the macaroni. Cook the macaroni a little more than half way. It should still be raw in the center, but cooked a little bit more than halfway through.
The Composition:
1x your finest baking vessel
butter
small amount of a strong cheese, like sharp chedder.
Butter your finest baking vessel and make sure your oven is at 300. Mix the macaroni into the cheese sauce and pour the mixture into your favorite dish. Top with the butter soaked breadcrumbs and bake for 15 minutes. Pull it out and add some shredded sharp cheese to the top and crank your oven or use the broil setting and toss it back in. Once it's nicely browned on top pull it out and let it cool for 7-10 minutes.
So good!
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You can *cough* *gag* *don't do it* replace some of the ingredients with storebought versions of the subsection headings. But then you're just making velveta shells and cheese with elbows and some chalky breadcrumbs. :ror:
You can also add more cheese, but do it slowly so as to not break the sauce.
Shopping list:
4 cups flour
10-16 strips of Bacon (depending on fat content and thickness, you can sub butter)
2 cups of milk
1 to 1.5lb Cheese - get whatever is in the budget
1/2 Baguette (preferably one that is 1-2 days old, it saves 10 minutes)
Onion (two thick sandwich style slices)
5 cloves garlic
1 stick of butter
5 sprigs of parsley
a small amount of a delicious sharp cheese, like sharp cheddar
