Before I get to the recipe, I wanted to point out that Amazon.com is selling a one-year subscription to ESPN the Magazine
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This is my reboot of this recipe; since I can’t abide cheddar cheese, I decided to make it with Gruyère, a milder cheese that’s also one of the best melting cheeses I’ve ever used.
Gruyère also happens to be the classic cheese at the heart of a sauce mornay, and mac and cheese is little more than cooked pasta covered in a sauce mornay with extra cheese and baked till semi-firm and golden brown on down. A sauce mornay is built on a sauce Béchamel*, one of the “mother sauces” and a somewhat secret ingredient in dishes like lasagna. A Béchamel starts with a flour-butter roux to which one adds milk (the traditional method is to steep an onion studded with a bay leaf and a few cloves in the milk first) and then simmers very gently until thickened. Add Gruyère and Parmiggiano-Reggiano to a Béchamel and you have a mornay.
*So one of the Food and Wine pavilions at Epcot this year had some dish served in a Béchamel sauce, and while I was walking by, I overheard a female tourist from somewhere in the northeast yell to her family that the dish was in a “buh-KAM-el” sauce. Granted, not everyone knows what a Béchamel is or how to say it, but if you saw that word and didn’t know it, how far down the list of potential pronunciations would “buh-KAM-el” be? Twentieth? Eightieth? A hundred and twelfth?
Since Gruyère is a French and Swiss-French cheese I went for one of the Frenchiest herbs I could think of, thyme, which pairs very well with Gruyère, and added parsley for some background music. Tarragon is probably the other herb I most associate with French cooking, but it’s too assertive for this dish in my opinion, and it’s more of a spring herb than a fall/winter comfort food flavor. Chives might work. I guess what I’m saying is that you can and should play with the herbs in this dish, just bearing in mind that the cheese flavor is on the soft side and you don’t want the finished product to taste like grass or licorice.
I’ve tried the dish with and without bread crumbs in the topping and I prefer it without, but it’s just a matter of taste. I also cut the mustard (!) in half to keep it in the background; it’s also a very French flavor but not everyone likes a mustardy smack in the mouth.
Whole Foods has organic whole wheat elbows under the 365 label for $1.99. I found a Swiss Gruyère at Trader Joes for $9.99 a pound; a roughly 10-11 ounce brick should give you enough for two batches.
1 1/2 cups elbow-shaped pasta (whole wheat works fine; you can try other shapes but it may alter the cooking time in the oven)
3 T unsalted butter
3 T all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp dry mustard
2 cups milk, anything but skim
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 Tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 cups (about 5 ounces) grated Gruyère cheese (nothing too fancy like “cave aged for 20 years” or anything)
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp Parmiggiano-Reggiano
salt/pepper to tastes
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a saucier (if you have one) or deep skillet or sauté pan, melt the butter and allow to foam but not brown. Add the flour and whisk constantly until a small paste forms. Add the mustard.
3. Gradually add the milk (you may choose to heat it first for faster cooking), still whisking constantly to create a smooth liquid.
4. Allow the mixture to simmer gently for 5-7 minutes until it’s visibly thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Add the herbs, then begin adding the Gruyère in small handfuls, whisking each addition into the sauce until it’s fully integrated. (If you add it all at once and whisk, you will end up with a big congealed clump in the center of your whisk – a hot mess if ever there was one.) Add 1/2 cup of the Parmiggiano-Reggiano and kill the heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper (white pepper works well here for aesthetic reasons).
5. Cook the pasta in several quarts of salted water and drain. You don’t want the pasta sitting and waiting for the sauce, so I usually put a small pot of water on high heat when I start the roux.
6. Grease a casserole dish and add the pasta. Pour the sauce over the pasta and toss to coat. Spread the remaining Parmiggiano-Reggiano over the top and bake until the top is golden, brown, and delicious and the center is slightly firm, 20-25 minutes, 30 if you want to be able to cut firm, stable wedges of the dish.
UPDATE: Reader Steve asked about adding leeks and/or bacon. I haven’t tried this variation, but here’s how I’d approach it:
* Chop the bacon finely and crisp in a skillet, rendering out as much fat as possible. Remove the bacon to a paper towel, then add to the casserole right before it goes in the oven.
* Pour out all but maybe 1 Tbsp of the fat from the skillet and use that to sweat the leeks. Slightly browning them is optional but would add more flavor – just don’t burn them. Add with the bacon to the mix right before baking.
This is like a Cook’s Illustrated article. Brilliant! Thanks, Keith. I can’t wait to try this out.
“1 1/2 grated Gruyère cheese” — cups? 6 ounces, then? I hate that people measure cheese in cups.
I’m working around a one-oven kitchen on turkey day. Would it be in good taste to make this on Wednesday and then reheat Thursday?
Off-topic, but why are the Sox reportedly willing to eat half of Lowell’s contract, has he slipped this badly? I can understand needing to shift Youk to third if Theo acquires a first baseman, but to get Beltre? He’s a fine defensive third baseman, but offensively…low OBP. And he will cost them more than Lowell’s $12M.
rfs: Fixed. It was cups, but I also added ounces. Six might be a bit much but you could give it a try.
Looks good Keith, was debating making this one:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/05/marthas-macaroni-and-cheese/
But may go for the Gruyère and Thyme instead.
Bob, Seattle’s ballpark seriously depressed Beltre’s offensive value. That, combined with what he can do with the glove, would be a nice upgrade over Lowell.
Keith, do you think leeks would work well in this? Like you, I can’t help but tweak recipes, and leeks make sense to me. Of course, there’s always bacon.
A few quick questions from a poor college student living in a deficient apartment:
Will pecorino-romano cheese work in place of parmiggiano-raggiano?
Do you think a potato peeler would work for grating gruyere?
About how much is thyme and dry mustard at, say, a Stop and Shop?
Looking forward to (hopefully) making this, Keith!
Perhaps a stupid question, but I assumed Mac and Cheese was totally an American dish. It is French? Mac and Cheese seems so hearty and filling while French food is not.
Steve: Yes. In fact, here’s what I would do:
* Chop the bacon finely and crisp in a skillet, rendering out as much fat as possible. Remove the bacon to a paper towel, then add to the casserole right before it goes in the oven.
* Pour out all but maybe 1 Tbsp of the fat from the skillet and use that to sweat the leeks.
Aiden: Yes, but I’d use less of it. Pecorino Romano is really strong and salty. Are you looking to go cheaper? Try grana padano, which is usually 1/3 cheaper than Parmiggiano-Reggiano but is made nearby and has a similar flavor. Trader Joes sells it.
I’d dice the cheese. It’s firm enough for a knife but too firm for a peeler. Just add it in very small handfuls to give the cheese time to melt and integrate. Gruyere is more expensive than cheddar, FWIW, and I’ve made this with Dubliner to good reviews from the wife.
Thyme at my local farmstand is $1.39 for a container with all you’ll need for a full Thanksgiving meal. Dry mustard should be $2-3. If you like mustard and don’t want to buy dry mustard, use a squirt of good Dijon.
brian: I’m thinking of this as mac and cheese with a French twist. I’m guessing m&c is an American adaptation of any of a handful of Italian dishes from lasagna to timpano.
I’m not familiar with the measurement “T” in this context. Please help.
T=Tbsp=Tablespoon. 1 T ? 15 ml, if you’re metric. Apologies for using both abbreviations, which probably caused your confusion.
t=tsp=teaspoon, or 5 ml.
For extra bacony, Bacon Mac & Cheese, I use the bacon grease for the mornay roux. Add a little sweated onion, whatever cheese is handy (within reason, no American, bleu etc) top with panko for extra crispiness.
Thanks Keith.
Do you think mushrooms would work in this? I was thinking porcini or morel, but I don’t want them to overwhelm the dish.
Thanks for the recipe. My favorite “mac & cheese” recipe is based around chevre. I put some chevre in a bowl, and then cook the pasta per the instructions. Add a handful of frozen peas to the pasta and let cook the last four minutes or so. When the pasta is done, I reserve some of the water. I add about of a tablespoon of the water to the chevre, and mix. Quickly drain the pasta and peas, and add to the melted chevre. Toss to combine. Add some of the reserved water to thin the sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkling some crispy bacon on top is nice.
During the farmer’s market season, you can get some really good deals at the market in Davis Square (Wednesdays 12 to 6). You can add fresh herbs if you want, or buy a marinated chevre. By your definition, this is not really mac & cheese, but it is quick, cheap, and delicious.
Keith, you say that Béchamel is a “secret ingredient” in lasagnas…do you have a lasagna recipe that you use? I’m looking for one that balances my wife’s tastes (cheesy, simple) and mine (rustic, loaded).
Thanks a lot for the help, Keith. I just went out and bought all the additional stuff I needed – the only difference was I bought thyme in one of those spice bottles because “fresh thyme” was $4 and had way more than I would need or use before it goes bad. I hope this doesn’t make too big a difference in taste (if you think it will, please let me know and I’ll make it with fresh thyme in the future). Looking forward to making it tomorrow for a nice lunch…
Aiden: There is a big difference. Use 1/4 tsp and “bloom” it in the roux – dried herbs fare much better if heated in fat at the start of the dish.
Also, I saw dried mustard at Target today for $3.39. Trader Joes didn’t have it. I know CVS used to sell very cheap dried spices/herbs, and while I couldn’t vouch for their freshness, that might be worth a look. Haven’t been to Penzey’s this week but if I go I’ll check their prices too.
James V: I don’t, but I believe Mario Batali uses a bechamel in his lasagna, and I’ve had good success with a few of his recipes.
Thanks Keith, this sounds great. What size casserole dish do you use?
Here’s a typical Besciamela:
5 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Add some Parmiggiano-Reggiano to taste (maybe a cup) and substitute for Ricotta for a more authentic Lasagna. And add some greens. I hate the American Lasagna recipes leave out the greens and go to way too heavy on meat and sauce. A little Bolognese goes a long way with fresh noodles.
George: The one I used last night was a 1.8 liter Corningware.
Santino: Tante grazie. What greens would you recommend? I don’t think I’ve seen them in a regular lasagna, only in a “vegetable” lasagna which I find is usually overstuffed with watery additions.
Any chopped greens that bring a subtle bitterness helps freshen things up and add complexity. Spinach works best as it’s not too bitter. Broccoli Raab is good too. Not too much though or it becomes “vegetarian” and overpowers the other flavors. Fresh greens shouldn’t add too much water. Frozen can be a problem though.
Asparagus and artichoke are nice too, but hold the red sauce for those. Their flavors get lost in the crowd otherwise.
My wife has made practically the exact same recipe, including leeks and bacon. I was skeptical about the leeks but in the end I couldn’t believe how much flavour they added to the dish. You can’t go wrong adding bacon to a cheese dish either.
Made this today…excellent dish, and thanks again for the recipe and help, Keith.
A few observations (I made it with bread crumbs and bacon):
1. I would, like you, do without the bread crumbs – I didn’t particularly like their texture with this.
2. Bacon was delicious with it. I made it with 4 trimmed and chopped strips, but I think next time I would use a little more, like 6 slices.
3. I’ve seen recommendations to add greens, which could be good, but the entire time I was craving a salad to go with it. I think a simple spinach salad would go very well.
Aiden: The greens recommendation were part of a lasagna tangent and not for the mac-n-cheese. Might be good though.
Sounds delicious! I’ll give it a try. That said, I generally avoid making a Bechamel sauce since it’s a pain in the a$$ and reminds me of my mother’s not-so-healthy cooking in the 1980s.
My favorite technique for Bechamel-less mac & cheese is here (and you could easily sub Gruyere for cheddar):
http://caffeinatedyarn.blogspot.com/2007/12/snow-day.html
Keith, gruyere was masterstroke. My wife Nicole has used it in rib-sticking dishes such as this. The posts for bechamel have been noted as well. Big fan of bechamel here…my mother makes a manicotti bolognese with bechamel which should be illegal.
Another note – since one of your relatives works at City Limits Diner, next time you come in dip a little south from there and visit Dante’s Deli on the opposite side of Central Ave. This jaded Italian foodie is of the belief that they are producing the best panini this side of the Atlantic.
Baking this now, though it’s not being eaten until tomorrow, so I’ll have to re-oven it. Looking forward to serving and eating it!
Another protein option is sausage. I used one that had some moderate spice to it and the flavor mixed really well. I’d caution against using anything with too much heat though, as you don’t want it to drown out the flavor.