Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
I used penne pasta to make a delicious homemade macaroni and cheese. It really isn’t that difficult, and has a lot more flavor that Easy Mac!
- 1 pound penne pasta
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 ½ tablespoons flour
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup milk
- 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup bread crumbs
Cook pasta according to package directions.
In medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and stir approximately 1 minute. Add milk and water to saucepan slowly, stirring constantly. Continue stirring for 3 to 5 minutes, until sauce comes to a boil and begins to thicken slightly. Stir in cheddar cheese, a little at a time, until melted. Turn off heat, then add white wine, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg.
Combine cheese sauce with cooked pasta. Then layer in a 13 inch x 9 inch baking dish. Combine parmesan cheese and bread crumbs, then sprinkle over top of the pasta.
Cover baking dish with aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove foil and bake for an addition 5 to 10 minutes, or until sauce is bubbly and brown.
The pasta should be cooked al dente, which is mostly likely the lowest cooking time on the package directions. You don’t want to cook it too soft because it will continue cooking while baking.
For the sauce, you can use 2 cups of milk and instead of using half water. One of the recipes I used as a reference for this dish used half water, and I decided to do that because I was running out of milk! The sauce was still delicious, but a full milk sauce would be richer. I used only yellow cheddar cheese, but a lot of recipes I read used combinations of different cheeses. One recipe I saw used white cheddar with mozzarella and Asiago, and the dish turned out to be a very elegant white macaroni and cheese. Maybe if there is a sale on cheese one day at the grocery store, I will stock up on enough varieties to make a three cheese dish, but that day hasn’t yet come!
Depending on which cheese you use, you might want to add salt to the sauce. Taste the sauce before combining it with the pasta, and add salt if needed. Because I added salt to the water in which I cooked the pasta, I decided not to add any to the sauce. Plus, a lot of flavor was already added to the sauce by the white wine, cayenne, and nutmeg. I also decided to try tossing the pasta with chopped spinach and red onions. I don’t think these additions were as complimentary as I had hoped, but you can give it a try if you would like. Next time I may not add the bread crumb topping either, so that I can simply enjoy the smooth and creamy cheese sauce!