Macaroni and Cheese

I can't believe I haven't posted something about macaroni and cheese in the 2+ years I have been blogging, because it is my signature dish in a lot of ways. It is at least my signature comfort food dish. I have marked many children's childhood's with my macaroni and cheese. My kid's school would have a fund raiser and I would make macaroni and cheese. I would make it for my youngest son's class for lunch. I would make it when I was doing a 50 person dinner because it is an easy, make-ahead side dish. The ironic thing about my macaroni and cheese is that it is a very old recipe in my repertoire, dating back to my college days, when I lived in a housing co-op with 19 other people. We had a small handful of cookbooks, all of them vegetarian (it was the 70's, after all), and one of the ones I loved most was Anna Thomas' "Vegetarian Epicure". My macaroni and cheese is an adaptation of her recipe. It really is best if you make it and serve it right away, but the real beauty of this dish is that it is pasta you can make ahead of time. And fast. I recently one, and it took about 20 minutes. The recipe is easy doubled or tripled and so long as you have large enough pots, it does not add to the preparation time. Here is recipe (and some tips) for making it to bake later: The first key is to make a bechamel sauce: Melt 1/2 cup butter in a saucepan. Once it is bubbling, add a 1/2 c. of flour. Stir vigorously, letting it brown a bit. This is making a roux (if you have a roux stirrer, use it--it really helps. If you make this and love it, get a roux stirrer. You won't be sorry). Now add a quart of milk very slowly and in batches. At first, milk should be added until the sauce is no longer thick. This is the only tricky point in the whole recipe, because it tends to lump up if you do it too fast and it sticks to the bottom if you do it too slow. Once the sauce is not longer thick, let it cook a bit. The warmer it gets, the thicker it gets. At the first pause in the action, add a bay leaf, some salt, fresh ground pepper, garlic powder and then grate as much nutmeg as you can manage into the sauce. This is the secret ingredient in the bechamel sauce--it has to be fresh grated, and it is best if you do a lot. Gradually add the rest of the milk, and turn off. Meanwhile have a large pot of water with salt in it boiling on the stove. once it is at a rolling boil, add a pound of macaroni. Give it a quick stir, put the lid back on, and set the timer for 5 minutes. It won't be done then, but if you are making the macaroni ahead of time, under cook it significantly. At 5 minutes, drain it. At this point, I put the macaroni into the contained I am going to bake it in, stir in the cheese, and then pour the sauce over it. If I am making this fancy, I use Anna Thomas' suggested cheeses: fontina and gruyere. Another option is to grate up cheeses that you no longer have another use for that are in danger of going bad in your cheese drawer. But what I usually do is use pre-grated cheese. My favorites are parmesan, sharp cheddar and Monterrey jack. I use enough that it looks cheesey and the sauce should look like it is way too much. As the pasta sits, it will absorb the sauce, and the finished product will be flavorful without the pasta tasting overcooked. Sprinkle with panko. For baking to serve: Try to bring it up to room temperature beforehand. This is not always possible, and it is not completely necessary. If you can, then bake it for about 45 min. at 350 degrees. If you can't, it is more like an hour, and turn it up to 375 it isn't looking brown on top by the end.