Cavatappi pasta noodles are my fave for Mac & Cheese. General béchamel cheese sauce but with minced onion & garlic cooked into the roux. Half and half infused with bay leaf instead of whole milk. Don’t usually use smoked cheese but by sister loves them and it was her birthday so I added in the smoked gouda. It was a fantastic choice. Leftover pieces of cornbread, baked at 300 for 20 minutes until dry but not burnt, crumbled and toasted in butter before topping. She was a thing of beauty, gone now but not forgotten.
by LadyBelmont73
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Recipe for those interested:
Preheat oven to 350. Grate the following cheeses from block form, pre-shredded will not work: 12 oz Parm(set aside 4 ounces for topping before baking), 20 oz Gruyère(crazy I know, but it was bogo at Publix), 10 oz Smoked Gouda, and 8 ounces of fresh Mozz. Parm, Smoked Gouda, and Gruyère for flavor and Mozz to give it some of that cheese pull moisture.
Pour a pint of half and half into a medium-low heat sauce pan and toss in a bay leaf or two to infuse gently. Not too hot or it will scald. Add 6 tablespoons of salted butter into a large pot along with 4* tbsp of ap flour to start your cheese sauce. Once combined over medium heat for a couple minutes, add 1 full minced sweet onion and 7 cloves of minced garlic to roux. Mixture will be pasty and thick but just keep trying to mix over the heat for a few minutes.
Add 1.5 of water to roux and the following seasonings: 2 tsp smoked paprika, 3 tsp garlic powder, 2 tsp black pepper, 2 tsp white pepper(optional, if not do 3 tsp BP), 3 tsp of salt, 1/2 tbsp of dried thyme, and 2 tbsp Grey Poupon (or good Dijon mustard). Stir until all distributed evenly and onions are clear/translucent. Now, around medium low heat, alternate between adding 1/3 of your warm H&H (bay leaves removed) and 1/3 of your grated cheeses, stirring between each addition to make sure incorporation is successful. I start with high moisture cheese like Mozz & Gouda first as they melt easier, which then allows the harder cheeses to dissolve easier in that cheese solution. Once fully homogeneous, take off heat and taste for salt/ pepper/ any additional seasoning you would like.
Take 8 ounces of previously made cornbread. Cut into smaller pieces and bake / air fry at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes until cornbread pieces are dry but not burnt / too dark. Once done, let cool a bit and then toss into ziplock bag and smash until crumbled. Toast in a pan with 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter until golden brown and sweet smelling and then set aside.
Boil 1.5 lbs of Cavatappi pasta until fully cooked(not al dente) but not overly soft. Noodles should be big and bouncy. Annoying to leave half a box I know, but it’s the perfect amount for a casserole dish while still leaving room for cheese sauce. Drain pasta thoroughly and combine with cheese sauce. I like to fully mix 1/3 of cheese sauce into noodles first, before folding in the rest. Place into pre-buttered casserole dish, glass or ceramic. Top with residual 4 oz of parm cheese all over as well as the cornbread crumb topping. Bake in oven, fully uncovered for around 30 minutes. Remove from oven cautiously enjoy as soon as safely, humanly edible.