Baked Three-Cheese Mac & Cheese

Ingredients:

            14tbsp unsalted butter, total (see below)

Pasta:

            16oz elbow pasta[1]

            2tbsp unsalted butter

Panko Crust Toppings:

            1 1/2cups of plain panko bread crumbs

            4tbsp unsalted butter

Cheese Sauce:

            300g smoked gruyere

            200g aged white cheddar

            100g mozzarella

            8tbsp unsalted butter

            2/3 cup all purpose flour

            6 cups milk, 2% or whole

            1tbsp salt

            1tsp garlic powder

            1tsp mustard powder

            1tsp onion powder

Cooking Instructions:

            Adjust oven racks to have a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350°F. Whip out: 2 large pots, strainer, cheese grater, 9x13 oven safe baking dish, 1 medium microwave safe bowl, 1 medium bowl, kitchen scale.

            Grate smoked gruyere, cheddar, and mozzarella, using the medium bowl and kitchen scale to measure the amount. Cheese does not need to be finely grated, course is fine. Weights can be +/-10g. Set aside grated cheese.

Pasta:

            Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook elbow pasta per packages instructions, subtracting 1 minute.

            Drain cooked pasta. Return pasta to pot and add butter. Mix in butter until melted. Set aside.

Panko Crust Toppings:

            Melt butter in the medium microwave safe bowl. Mix in panko until completely mixed. Set aside.

Cheese Sauce:

            Roux: In a large pot melt butter over medium heat. Add flour while continuously stirring. Mixture will thicken and brown. 1-2 minutes. If you do not know how to make a roux, watch a video. Do not burn it.

            Add 2 cups of milk to the roux, stirring until flour paste is dissolved. Add remaining milk, salt, garlic powder, mustard powder, and onion powder. Cook for 6-10 minutes, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens. Sauce will brown slightly. Sauce should coat the back of a wooden spoon when thick.

            Remove from heat. Add grated cheese from earlier to the thickened sauce. Mix until completely combined. Cheese may not melt completely.

Finishing:

            Pour sauce-cheese mixture into pot with cooked elbow pasta. Quickly mix and pour into 9x13 baking dish.[2]

            Cover top of pasta-sauce mixture with the panko from earlier.

            Baked 23-25 minutes until Panko is golden-brown.

[1] We prefer the “large” variety of elbow pasta, but any elbow pasta will work.

[2] This will just about completely fill the baking dish. If you are worried about spill over, put baking dish on a cookie sheet.