Hope everyone had a great 4th of July! So this year I was on Mac-N-Cheese duty, in all honesty this was the FIRST TIME I had ever made homemade Mac-N-Cheese. I am a little bit of an over achiever so I didn’t want to disappoint. After diligently searching the web, and pinterest, I stumbled upon a winner! 

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) package cavatappi {corkscrew macaroni}

6 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup flour

5 1/2 cups milk (Vitamin D or 2%)- These will be divided

2 1/2 cups shredded smoked Gouda cheese

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese

1 1/2 cups graded Parmesan cheese- these will be divided

1/2 cups dry bread crumbs

1-2 tablespoons tuffle oil

4 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175°C). Butter/Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish. {Suggestion: Use a 4 1/2 quart Dutch Oven)
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add salt to make the water boil quicker and to lightly season your noodles. Cook the cavatappi in boiling water until they are firm (9-10 minutes). I always like to taste the pasta around the 8, 9 and 10 mins marker to make sure it is just right, every stovetop cooks differently.
3. Melt the butter in a large pot (large saucier pan) over medium-low heat. Whisk the flour into the melted butter until it has a thick consistency (45 seconds). Slowly add 2 cups of milk into the flour/butter past, until it is nice and smooth. Then stir in the remaining cups of milk while increasing the heat to medium-high. Note, do not take your eyes off of this step. You need to constantly whisk this mixture for 5 minutes until you bring it to almost boiling.
4. Stir in each cheese, one-by-one, into the milk mixture only use 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese. Continues to stir the cheese into the milk mixture until all of the cheese is completely melted and smooth. Fold cavatappi into the cheese sauce (use a rubber spatula) then pour the mixture into the baking dish.
5. In a different bowl, stir in the remaining Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs. Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the top of the mac-n-cheese then drizzle the truffle oil over the top.
6. Bake in the oven until the top is  bubbling and slightly golden (30-35 minutes). Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

The Ending Product ⇓

The Side Notes

– Use rich cheese, shred and separate before preheating he oven.

– I like to use Vitamin D milk, but you could use a lighter milk if you do not want it too creamy. For the creamiest, use half and half.

– For the bread crumbs, I used plain panko. I like how they are thicker and more airy and seem to have a better crunch when you bake them.

– Do not soak the top of the bread crumbs with truffle oil, but you can drizzle more than 1 ounce. I always eye this technique (I love truffles).

– If not cooking for vegetarians, garnish the top of the mac-n-cheese with crumbled bacon, 5 minutes before taking the dish out of the oven.

Hope y’all enjoy this dish!!!!

Love,

M&MJ