Macaroni and Cheese

I've been making Mac and Cheese with this recipe for 5-6 years. I think it's pretty solid. It's unhealthy. I think it's better than what I usually encounter in restaurants, so I stopped getting Macaroni and Cheese in restaurants. I might lower the garlic from two cloves to one clove some day. And careful with that nutmeg!

I admit this recipe is guilty of calling for an amount of dry pasta which is annoying. Why would you call for 1 1/3 packages = 20 oz, instead of a single 16 oz package?  

• 1 shallot, minced
• 8 Tbsp butter (1 stick), plus 2 Tbsp
• 20 oz cavatappi, medium shells, or of course: macaroni
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 qt whole milk
• 6 oz gruyere cheese, grated
• 8 oz extra sharp white cheddar, grated
• 3 oz colby jack cheese, grated
• 4 oz good parmesan, finely grated
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 to 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 3/4 tsp salt

1. Set the oven to 400º F.
2. Start a pot of water for the pasta.
3. Butter in a medium sauce pan, melt then add the shallot.
4. 1 min on medium-high, then add the garlic, then cook another 1 1/2 min.
5. Bit by bit add the flour, whisking the bit quickly to incorporate fully before adding the next bit.
6. Hopefully the water is boiling by now. Add salt, then the pasta to that water. Cook the pasta about 2/3 of the way.
7. Just like the making the roux bit by bit incorporating flour, make a bechamel by adding the milk bit by bit. The mixture is initially a bit loose, almost sauce-like. The bechamel becomes a sort of clump of stuff when you're about 1/3 through the milk. At about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through the milk, it'll go back to being sauce-like, then by the time all the milk is added, it'll be pretty liquidy. Don't take any short cuts. Just keep adding a bit, whisking for 5 seconds, and repeat.
8. Simmer on medium-low until the sauce thickens a bit, maybe 5-6 min.
9. Add the nutmeg, cayenne, white pepper, and salt.
10. Add the gruyere, cheddar, and colby jack. Stir.
11. The pasta is probably finished by now.
12. Combine the pasta and sauce in the pot you cooked the pasta in. Make sure the cheese hits every square micrometer of that pasta, then dump it all into a casserole or lasagna pan. I have a cast iron casserole in the shape of a tomato that I really like.
13. Melt the 2 Tbsp of butter in the microwave. Stir the melted butter with the bread crumbs. Then combine that mixture with the parmesan.
14. Sprinkle the bread crumbs and parmesan mixture evenly over the macaroni and cheese.
15. Bake for 30 min or until the topping gets some nice browning.

I forgot to use my favorite mac and cheese pan this time, but here's some pictures of when I used it.