McMahan’s truffled mac and cheese

Posted by Dana McMahan on February 10, 2008

I picked up Macaroni & Cheese: 52 Recipes from Simple to Sublime by Joan Schwartz at the library Saturday (along with my bag full of other cookbooks). Like most foodies, I lust after cookbooks – and what’s not to love about a book dedicated to the ultimate comfort food? We already knew we wanted to cook mac and cheese for dinner on this nippy February evening and I thought I may pick a fun new recipe from the book. Some of them really tempted me — namely the Chunks of Lobster Swimming in Cheesy Macaroni and the intriguing Swiss Mac and Potatoes (carb-lover’s dream!). My pantry revealed a disappointing lack of the key ingredients to these temptations though, so we changed our game plan to our family favorite and perked it up with some white truffle oil.

Our starting point is Gourmet’s basic macaroni and cheese recipe but we adapt it pretty willy-nilly.

Give this a try:

7 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ yellow onion, chopped
3 tablespoons white truffle oil
3 ½ cups milk + ½ cup heavy cream
dry mustard to taste (we use about 2 tablespoons)
cayenne to taste (we use ¼ teaspoon)
pepper and sea salt to taste
1 pound of your favorite noodles (we like the spiral cellentani)
4 cups your choice of cheese – make sure half of it is extra sharp cheddar and play with the rest. Try Colby, mozzarella, gorgonzola, goat, fontina, gruyere or your favorite
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup Panko (or bread crumbs, but Panko gives it a pleasing crispiness)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 3- to 4-quart gratin or other shallow baking dish.

Make Béchamel sauce
Melt 6 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add flour and cook roux, whisking, 3 to 4 minutes. Add milk/cream, whisking, and bring just to a boil (until thickened), occasionally whisking. Add seasonings to taste and truffle oil.

Cook Pasta
In the meantime, you’re cooking the pasta in a kettle of salted boiling water until just al dente. Drain well. In a large bowl stir together pasta, béchamel sauce and cheeses and transfer to baking dish.

Add the topping
Stir together Panko and 1/3 cup Parmesan and sprinkle over macaroni. Cut remaining 1 tablespoon butter into pieces and scatter over Panko.

Cook it!
Bake in the middle of oven 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.

Carve out wedges, fight over who gets the biggest piece and enjoy. If any is left, freeze and save for work lunches. Be sure to thaw in fridge overnight before reheating at lunch.

Ça vaut le voyage,
Dana

TAGS: Dana, Macaroni And Cheese, Truffle
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[ READER COMMENTS ]

1. 1

   Lesli said:

   Hi Dana!

   Welcome to forks!!! I love your first few posts and it looks like we'll complement each other well! I look forward to cooking with you, Dana!

   Fellow forks blogger,

   Lesli

   Posted at 12:44 PM, on February 10 2008

1. 2

   Brenda Bowling said:

   I gotta say my loyalty lies with the orange Kraft mac and cheese brand. But if I wasn't the loyal type I would certainly have to give yours a try based purely on appetizing appearance.

   Posted at 06:20 PM, on February 10 2008

1. 3

   Val said:

   I have always made my mac & chez from scratch. With elbow or shells or spirals noodles. and of course velveeta chez, milk and butter. Dana, you more likely remember me doing this way years ago.......

   Posted at 08:45 PM, on February 10 2008

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