Many-Cheese Mac and Cheese
Cheese aficionato's (that's me) version of the ultimate comfort food.
Mix all cheeses. Set aside 1/2 cup for topping.
Melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour and stir until mixture turns golden brown. Add thyme/basil and nutmeg and a little pepper, if you feel like it. No need for salt, though, the cheeses are salty enough. Gradually whisk in milk. Simmer until thickened and smooth, stirring all the time. Add all the cheeses. Stir until melted and smooth.
Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C.
Cook pasta al dente in water seasoned with salt and bay leaves.
Remove bay leaves and drain the pasta, then toss it into the casserole dish. Pour the cheese sauce inside and mix well. Top with the remaining cheese and cover the dish with its lid and bake for about 15 minutes.
After that time, uncover the dish and bake another 5 minutes, or until the cheese topping goes all bubbly and starts to be a little crusty.
To make it pretty, garnish each serving with finely chopped parsley.
_______________________________________________________
On Cheeses: the cheeses I recommended in the recipe produce, in my opinion, best result, but the general idea is to have 2 regular cheeses and 1 blue cheese in the mix. Every cheese with decided taste works. Even Emmental, which is by far the weirdest cheese I know. You take one piece and think, "It's revolting!", as it's gooey and has weird aftertaste, so you take another piece to be certain that you hate it and decide that it's quite good, so you take another piece to make sure and think, "No, it really is horrible", but still take another piece to confirm your suspicions, and before you know, you've eaten it all and still can't figure out whether you like it or not.
- 3/4 cup of Gruyere (grated)
- 3/4 cup of Cheddar (grated)
- 3/4 cup of crumbled blue cheese (Gorgonzola, preferably)
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 1 big tablespoon of flour
- 1 teaspoon thyme or basil (preferably freshly chopped, dried doesn't work so well)
- 1/3 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 cups milk
- About 300 g pasta. Penne, elbow macaroni, rigatoni, whatever tubular pasta you like best, anyway.
- 2 bay leaves
- salt and pepper, obviously
Mix all cheeses. Set aside 1/2 cup for topping.
Melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour and stir until mixture turns golden brown. Add thyme/basil and nutmeg and a little pepper, if you feel like it. No need for salt, though, the cheeses are salty enough. Gradually whisk in milk. Simmer until thickened and smooth, stirring all the time. Add all the cheeses. Stir until melted and smooth.
Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C.
Cook pasta al dente in water seasoned with salt and bay leaves.
Remove bay leaves and drain the pasta, then toss it into the casserole dish. Pour the cheese sauce inside and mix well. Top with the remaining cheese and cover the dish with its lid and bake for about 15 minutes.
After that time, uncover the dish and bake another 5 minutes, or until the cheese topping goes all bubbly and starts to be a little crusty.
To make it pretty, garnish each serving with finely chopped parsley.
_______________________________________________________
On Cheeses: the cheeses I recommended in the recipe produce, in my opinion, best result, but the general idea is to have 2 regular cheeses and 1 blue cheese in the mix. Every cheese with decided taste works. Even Emmental, which is by far the weirdest cheese I know. You take one piece and think, "It's revolting!", as it's gooey and has weird aftertaste, so you take another piece to be certain that you hate it and decide that it's quite good, so you take another piece to make sure and think, "No, it really is horrible", but still take another piece to confirm your suspicions, and before you know, you've eaten it all and still can't figure out whether you like it or not.