After making a cheese sauce loosely based on bechamel and tossing it with cooked penne pasta, I poured it all into a casserole dish and threw it into a preheated 350 degree oven.
In the last 10 minutes, I topped the cheese and pasta with 3/4 c. breadcrumbs mixed 1/4 grated Parmesan cheese and 4 T. melted butter. When it comes out, the whole thing was gurgling creamy cheese and looked all crispy and crumb-y on top.
The crucial taste-test was at the dinner table.
Everyone liked it.
*phew*
However, there are a few things I would change. Next time, I'll make sure that there is whole milk in the refirgerator in the kitchen where I am cooking my macaroni and cheese. Obviously, the nonfat milk very greatly affected the texture of the finished product, making it far less creamy than it would have been. I also think that I may go back to the elbow macaroni shape and see what kind of difference that makes in the final product.
Overall, macaroni and cheese was a very merry liveblogging experience (which was probably enhanced by the Manischewitz I had to drink all day).
Part 1 - Cooking penne pasta
Part 2 - Grating two kinds of cheese
Part 3 - Flavoring the sauce with condiments
Part 4 - Three attempts at tempering eggs
Part 5 - The finished product
12-26-2005 @10:48AM T. Allen said... Use evaporated milk. The canning process helps stabilize the milk fats for a creamier sauce. Regular milk, of any kind, can curdle and separate in the cooking process.
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