Baked macaroni and cheese

Because what kind of a half-assed kitchen blog would we be without a quintessential baked mac and cheese recipe? A blog not worth our cheddar, that's what.

This is your basic macaroni and cheese, with a couple options for gourmeting it up at the end.

Here's what you need and how you do it

1/2 lb. pasta

3/4 cup milk, cream or half and half

1 egg

3 Tablespoons flour (whisked with a little water to keep it from getting lumpy)

Many handfuls of shredded cheese (preferably a mixture of different kinds--cheddar, provolone, mozzarella, jack or colby)

1/2 cup bread crumbs

Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente. Drain. Mix with milk, egg, flour-water combo, cheese, salt and pepper.

Coat a baking dish with cooking spray and spread pasta and cheese mixture into it. Sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Bake for 25 minutes. If the bread crumbs aren't golden by then, you can switch oven to broil for 2 to 3 minutes (watch carefully!) until the top is bubbly and nicely browned.

If you want to get all fancy: You can add chopped onion, a little dry mustard, and/or paprika before baking.

For a printable version of this recipe, click here.

Comments

[christy]

Oh my god I am so making this dish this weekend. Sign me up! How much onion, dry mustard and paprika did you add? Did you add all three to the same batch?

[christy]

I left my wrong address before! Doh.

[All Adither]

I didn't add any, actually. But I would do a teaspoon of paprika, half a teaspoon of the dry mustard and maybe half an onion, diced. Or more to taste.

[aleta]

I would argue the mustard is essential--it adds this sharpness that just brings the whole thing together for me! Actually, as a kid, we never made *real* mac n cheese, just the box stuff, and my dad taught me to squirt a little bit of Gulden's right in, since we were not the kind of people to have a spice rack kicking around. I still do it today every time I make Kraft.

[un-bride]

Thank yooooooou! Can't wait to try this.

[Wendy]

this is a revelation! you don't cook the milk on the stove first?! yahoooooo. this i can handle!

[kcinnova]

Only 1/2 pound of pasta? I think this recipe feeds one teenage boy. I'll at least need to double it, because it looks delicious!

What size of baking dish did you use for the recipe as posted?

[Stepping Thru]

I read this earlier and then made some for lunch! YUMMY! Just what I needed today.

[Spice Rack]

Nice recipe! By the way can I use french cheese instead of cheddar or mozzarella? I think it would be perfect for this recipe too. and Besides that's all I have in my under cabinet spice rack.

[Half Assed Kitchen]

Kc, we used an 8x8 pan. You can definitely double it though! :0)