Tom's Mac and Cheese

Tom’s Over-Engineered Macaroni and Cheese

This is the general idea/recipe.  Make sure to keep an eye on it while baking, as the times are approximate.

Ingredients:

2 cups 2% milk

1 stick real unsalted butter

4 Tbs all purpose flour

Salt

Pepper

Barilla elbow macaroni (1 package/box - buy 2 boxes to be safe, they’re cheap)

8oz package Tillamook extra sharp cheddar

8oz package Tillamook medium cheddar

Small amount of plain firm havarti cheese from the deli/cheese counter (2 oz)

Small amount fresh parmesan cheese from the deli/cheese counter (1 oz) (optional)

Box of Cheez-its

Preparation:

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Pasta:

1. Bring large pot of water to a boil
2. Slowly add the pasta, and stir.
3. Stirring occasionally, cook pasta for approximately 75% of the recommended “al dente” cooking time.  For example, if it says cook for 7-8 minutes for “al dente”, your cook time should be 5 ½ minutes (7 * .75).  Pasta should still be slightly undercooked and just a little bit crunchy.
4. Drain undercooked pasta and set aside.

Béchamel Sauce (w/ Cheese):

1. In a heavy saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons of butter over low heat.
2. Blend 4 tablespoons of flour into the melted butter.
3. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
4. Over medium-low heat, cook until the mixture turns a light, golden sandy color, about 5 minutes. Cooking for this length of time will minimize 'flour' taste.
5. SLOWLY add 2 cups of milk, whisking constantly and quickly.  If you don’t wisk briskly (a lot), the flour will likely clump up and you’ll have to start over.  If you add too much milk at once, the flour will probably clump up, and then you’ll have to start over.
6. Once combined, continue cooking the sauce slowly until smooth and thickened.
7. Once sauce is thick, SLOWLY add approximately 1 to 1.5 cups (more to taste) of grated Tillamook medium Cheddar Cheese.  Add a little bit, let it melt into the sauce, then repeat.  Don’t add the cheese all at once, or it will probably clump up, and you’ll get to start over… 
8. Slow and methodical is the common theme with this sauce.  Also, the sauce needs to be stirred almost the entire time that you’re making it.  This sauce is like a needy girlfriend and requires lots of attention, sweet talk, and compliments.
9. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Assembly:

The assembly is similar to lasagna or other layered casseroles.  There are layers of 1) pasta, cheese sauce, and shredded cheese, then 2) pasta, cheese sauce, and shredded cheese, then 3) another layer and so on, until the pan in filled.  See text diagram below.

1. Grate 1 ½ cups of extra sharp cheddar, ¼ cup havarti, and 2 Tbs parmesan.  Keep grated cheese in separate bowls. 
2. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a glass 8x8 baking dish.  Don’t go crazy with the butter.  This is just to keep everything from sticking.
3. Spoon several tablespoons of the cheese sauce on the bottom of the pan and lightly spread around.
4. Spoon some of the pasta previously cooked into the bottom of the pan.  There should be approximately ¾ of an inch of pasta covering the entire bottom of the pan  Pasta layer should be several noodles thick (ie: don’t just do a thin layer of noodles.  If stacked, noodle layer should be about 3 noodles high)
5. Poor some cheese sauce over the pasta.  The sauce should work its way in-between some of the noodles. Don’t worry about covering every single noodle, just poor over the top and let gravity do the work. Do make an effort to poor a little sauce around the edge of the pan/pasta, but do not over-sauce. 
6. Cover the first layer of sauced pasta with shredded sharp cheddar cheese.  You don’t need to go crazy with the shredded cheese either.  Just a nice, even layer over all of the pasta. 
7. Lightly sprinkle some of the havarti into/onto the sharp cheddar.
8. Cover the pasta, sauce and shredded cheese, with another layer of pasta (again, about ½ inch)  Repeat the process by covering the pasta with sauce then shredded cheese
9. Repeat the layering until you get to about ½ from the top of the dish.  There should be about 3 layers of pasta, maybe 4 layers if you didn’t make the pasta layers thick enough.
10. The very top layer is slightly different.  Crush up some cheez-its and sprinkle them over the shredded cheese.  Then sprinkle a very light layer of parmesan over/around the cheez-its. 

Text Diagram for 3 layers:

TOP OF DISH

Shredded Parmesan

Cheez-its

Small amount shredded havarti

Shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese

Cheese Sauce

¾ inch Pasta

Small amount shredded havarti

Shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese

Cheese Sauce

¾ inch Pasta

Small amount shredded havarti

Shredded Sharp Cheddar cheese

Cheese Sauce

¾ inch Pasta

2 Tbs Cheese Sauce

Buttered dish bottom

BOTTOM OF DISH

Baking:

1. Cover the assembled 8x8 mac & cheese dish with aluminum foil. 
2. Place in a 325 degree oven for approximately 15 minutes. 
3. Take the mac and cheese out of the oven and carefully remove the aluminum foil.
4. Place the dish back into the oven, and bake for approximately another 10 minutes, or until the top starts to get a little color.

5.     Remove dish and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.