Recipe: 4 Cheese Baked Macaroni

[ceejamon]

We're not talking about easy mac here. My wife's name is Allison, and her parents called her Allisony-Macaroni when she was a kid due to her obsession with cheesy noodles. This is my new favorite recipe for mac & cheese, and it's Allison approved, so you know it's good.

A total of 7 tablespoons of butter (4, 2, and 1)
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups half and half
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 pound elbow macaroni
3/4 teaspoon minced garlic
Splash of hot sauce
A total of 8 1/2 ounces grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (about 2 cups)
4 ounces grated cheddar cheese
4 ounces grated fontina cheese
4 ounces grated gruyere cheese
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon Tony Chachere's or Creole Seasoning

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In a heavy medium saucepan melt 4 tablespoons of the butter over low heat. Add the flour and stir to combine. Cook, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes. Increase the heat to medium and whisk in the half and half little by little. (DO NOT just dump it in) Cook until thickened, stirring frequently, which will take about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, season with the salt, pepper, hot sauce and 4 ounces of the grated parmesan. Stir until cheese is melted and sauce is smooth. Cover and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Boil water in a big pot. Add salt to taste and stir in the macaroni. Return to a boil, reduce the heat to a low boil and cook for about 5 minutes. The macaroni should be slightly undercooked. Drain in a colander and return the macaroni to the pot. Add 2 tablespoons of the butter, toss in the garlic, and stir it up. Add the thick white sauce you made a minute ago (Bechamel) and stir until it's well combined. Set aside.

Using the remaining tablespoon of butter, grease a 3-quart baking dish or casserole dish and set aside.

In a large bowl combine 4 ounces of the remaining parmesan cheese, cheddar, fontina and gruyere cheeses. Toss to combine. You should still have some parmesan left over.

Place one-third of the macaroni in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Top with one-third of the mixed cheeses. Top with another third of the macaroni and another third of the cheese mixture. Repeat with the remaining macaroni and cheese mixture. In a small bowl (or on a paper plate) combine the bread crumbs, the remaining 1/2 ounce of grated parmesan, and the Tony's and toss to combine. Sprinkle this over the top of the macaroni and cheese.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until the macaroni and cheese is bubbly and hot and the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let it sit a few minutes before serving.

Tasty, tasty stuff. Also, it keeps pretty well and isn't bad at all as microwaved leftovers. I think it's pretty damn perfect like it is, but feel free to give me your recommendations, or your recipes for mac & cheese.




Ceejamon's Recipes:

Ceeejamon's Chevre Filled Chicken Breasts w/ Mushrooms and a Basil Lemon Butter Sauce
Ceejamon's Turkey Burgers AKA The Thread that Nobody Noticed
Ceejamon's Lasagna of DOOM
Ceejamon's Super Simple Tomato Sauce
Ceejamon's Enchilada Casserole
Ceejamon's Pasta w/ Creamy Salmon Sauce
Ceejamon's White Chocolate & Caramel Cheesecake
Ceejamon's Parmesan Pork Chops and Risotto
Ceejamon's Easy Creme Brulee
4 Cheese Baked Macaroni (no pics, but maahes made it and posted some)

[Jade Robbins]

pics man! pics!

[ceejamon]

Originally Posted by Jade Robbins

pics man! pics!

Digicam = destroyed by cats.

[porchmonkey]

As a professional chef, I approve of this recipe.

[Gene Simmons]

Originally Posted by Mozz

As a professional chef, I approve of this recipe.

Wow, what an approval. It sounds really delicious man. I think I'm going to have to give this a twirl! Thanks a lot of for the recipe.

[Threnx]

that sounds delicious

I wonder if it would be good with chunks of chicken?

[maahes]

OMG that sounds realy good I will make this this weekend. ill take pics if you want.

[ceejamon]

Originally Posted by maahes

OMG that sounds realy good I will make this this weekend. ill take pics if you want.

That'd be awesome since I can't. It comes out really pretty if you do it right.

Originally Posted by Threnx

that sounds delicious

I wonder if it would be good with chunks of chicken?

I've thought about it, but I've never tried it. I usually serve it as a side dish to chicken parmesan, along with a salad. The tomato sauce I put on the chicken ends up on the macaroni, and that's not a bad thing.

[Gene Simmons]

Re-reading this thread is making me so hungry! Would you say this takes about an hour to cook? Altogether that is...

[ceejamon]

Originally Posted by Don_Juan

Re-reading this thread is making me so hungry! Would you say this takes about an hour to cook? Altogether that is...

Hmm... it's hard to say. I usually have my wife helping me with grating cheese and such. By yourself, it would probably take a little over an hour. That's a lot of cheese to grate.

[maahes]

fuck it this sounds to good to wait to the weekend im gona make it tonight. expect pics by 9EST (hopefully)

[beavens]

sounds awesome, but i can feel my heart clogging just reading about it

[maahes]

Here we go:
Mixing the flour and butter.


Adding salt and pepper to the sauce, already has the parmisan in it


Sauce all ready to be set aside


MMMM cheese and garlic waiting to be chopped


all the cheeses mixed up

[maahes]

macroni is done!


Adding butter


Adding sauce


Macroni ready to go in pan


Bread crumb topping

[maahes]

all in the pan with topping ready to bake


OMG this smells good, all done baking now setting up for 10 min.





A+ recipe will bake again.