Baked Macaroni and Cheese
My mom made this cheese sauce when I was a child, mostly to pour over vegetables she was trying to get us to eat. I was a grown woman before I realized that steamed broccoli didn’t have to be served with cheese sauce! It does make this homemade mac and cheese taste amazingly good, though!
Ingredients
Cheese Sauce
Topping
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 2-quart casserole dish.
Step 2
Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add 2 teaspoons of salt and the macaroni. Bring the water back to a boil and cook the macaroni for 12 minutes, or until tender. Drain well.
Step 3
Make the sauce while the macaroni cooks. Melt the butter in a 1-quart saucepan. Using a wire whisk, stir in the flour and 1 teaspoon of salt, stirring and cooking over medium heat until the roux bubbles and the flour turns pale brown, about 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and slowly whisk in 1 cup of the milk. Return the pan to the heat and whisk in the remaining 1 cup milk. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens. Add the cheese and stir until it melts.
Step 4
Add the drained macaroni to the cheese sauce and mix thoroughly. In a small bowl, stir the bread crumbs together with the melted butter until the crumbs are moistened. Transfer the macaroni and cheese to the prepared baking dish, top with the buttered bread crumbs, and bake for 15 minutes, or until the dish bubbles around the edges.
