Every couple of months, Mike and I get a real hankering for homemade baked macaroni and cheese. It’s really simple to put together, and mac and cheese from a box just doesn’t even begin to compare. The first thing you have to do is make a roux (thanks for the correction), by whisking together about 1/4 cup of butter and several tablespoons of flour over medium heat in an oven-safe pan. The most important factors in making a good roux are to use a whisk, and to keep the whisk constantly moving.
It should take just a couple of minutes until the roux is well mixed, at which point you can add about a cup of milk. Continue whisking until it is all blended together and becomes a lovely golden color.
Then you can start adding in one pound of shredded cheese, a handful at a time, while you continue whisking. If the cheese sauce starts to be too thick, you can add a bit more milk. By the time you’ve added all the cheese, the consistency should be soft and easily mixed with a whisk, but with a stringy quality to it.
When the cheese sauce looks just like that, you can start adding your cooked pasta. This recipe makes enough cheese sauce to generously coat about 6 cups of cooked pasta. You can add more if you want it a little less cheesy, or less if you like it super cheesy. Add the pasta a few cups at a time, while folding it over and over again with a mixing spoon. Once all the pasta is added to the cheese, crumble a few crackers over the top of it and season it if you want. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, and enjoy!
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