Thursday, April 1, 2010

Recipe Of The Day: Baked Macaroni & Cheese

We are posting this up a little late due to the extensive and oftentimes painfully grueling taste testings we have been performing with all the vicious hot sauces pouring in.
One of our good friends from way before day one of the site hit us up and asked how we perform that lovely dish we call Baked Macaroni & Cheese. Baked Macaroni & Cheese is really simple and as long as you don't overcook any of these precious ingredients you will be in for a great treat that sticks to the ribs and goes great alongside just about EVERYTHING.
Enjoy this recipe and remember that the leftovers go great the next day, when turned into fried mac & cheese. But now were just giving up too much info...




Ingredients:
½ lb Elbow Macaroni
3 TBS Butter
3 TBS Flour
1 TBS Powdered Mustard
3.5 cups milk
½ cup Yellow Onion (small dice)
1 Bay Leaf
½ tsp Smoked Paprika
½ tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp Seasoning Salt
1 Large Egg
12 oz Sharp Cheddar (grated)
1 tsp Kosher Salt
Fresh Black Pepper
½ cup Philadelphia Cream Cheese (cut into small cubes)

Topping:
3 TBS Butter
1 cup Panko Bread Crumbs

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente (don’t worry they will soften further with the later cooking process)
While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter.
Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes.
Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, cream cheese, bay leaf, and paprika, cayenne, seasoning salt.
Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf (make sure cream cheese has completely melted into mixture, if not continue to stir until mixed together smoothly.)
Temper in the egg.
Stir in 3/4 of the cheese.
 Season with salt and pepper.
Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish.
Top with remaining cheese.
Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat.
Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs.
Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.
Remember to save leftovers for fried Macaroni and Cheese.

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