Main
Serves 6 People
Takes 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 pound short pasta of your choosing
- 6 tbsp. Rolling Meadow Dairy Unsalted Butter
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. mustard powder
- 4 cups Rolling Meadow Dairy 2% Milk
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 pinch cracked black pepper
- 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg (ground if you don’t have fresh)
- 2 cups Gruyere cheese, grated
- 1 cup Aged Cheddar, grated
- 1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
- 1 cup of panko crumbs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Bring large pot of heavily salted water to a boil.
- Cook pasta 3 minutes less than what is indicated on the package. Once the pasta has reached doneness, drain and set aside. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water and set aside. Run pasta under cold water to cool and keep from cooking.
- To make roux, melt 4 tbsp. of butter in your large pot over moderately low heat, then whisk in flour and cook roux. Whisk constantly. Your roux should have the colour and consistency of light sand. Add mustard powder to roux and stir.
- Whisk in milk and bring to a boil. Whisk constantly. Add bay leaf.
- Reduce heat and simmer. Whisk occasionally for 5 minutes or until it’s thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove bay leaf. Whisk in cayenne, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
- Slowly add all cheese, except for 1/2 cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Whisk until combined and melted. If the cheese sauce is too thick, slowly add some of the left over pasta water until the sauce loosens.
- Add pasta and mix until all noodles are coated evenly with the cheese sauce.
- Sprinkle the remaining Parmigiano Reggiano and panko crumbs to cover the top evenly.
- Melt remaining butter and pour over the panko and Parmigiano Reggiano topping.
- Place in the oven, middle rack, and bake for 20 – 30 minutes or until the topping is golden brown.
Food For Thought
Hosting and want to save yourself some time? Make this the day or night before, stopping at step 8, and put in the fridge. Pull your Mac & Cheese out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before you want to complete the remaining steps.
