Seven Cheese Mac and Cheese – Junk Food Post #2

The assault on good eating, continues, this time in a post inspired by my friends Daniel Perez at Highmoon Media Grace Piper at Fearless Cooking, MissBHavens at missbehavens (whose recipes are equally good at ripping apart New Year’s Resolutions), and Sean Paul Ellis at losesome.blogspot.com.

Today, we are going to rock yours senses with seven cheese mac.  Why seven cheeses?

Because a mere 3 or 5 or 6 cheeses, just would not do, now would it?  We don’t do anything halfway at BlogWellDone.

Seven Cheese Mac and Cheese

First, a moment of your time.  Before we get into the recipe, there is some debate over the type of macaroni to use in any mac and cheese, no many if uses a paltry one type of cheese or amazing seven.

Conventional wisdom says use elbow macaroni, which is all fine and well and good.  However, I like spirals.  My friend Joy turned me on to them when she made mac and cheese.  When she first told me she used spirals, I scoffed, like the good food snob I am.

However, after tasting them, I was forced to agree they have a better texture and they hold more cheese. So, I say use spirals if you have them.

Oh, and angel hair noodles, for the record, are right out.

Making the Mac and Cheese

This is really pretty simple.  The key to getting it right is making sure the noodles are undercooked.

You need:

  • 24 oz spiral macaroni
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons white flour
  • 2  cups cream
  • 1 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 cup fontina, shredded
  • 1 cup mozzerella, shredded
  • 1 cup Gruyere, shredded
  • 1 cup sharp yellow cheddar, shredded*
  • 1 cup Emmenthaler, shredded
  • 1 cup sharp white cheddar, shredded
  • 1 cup Roblechon, shreded
  • (optional) 1 cup of Parmesan, grated
  • (optional) Toppings such as panko, bread crumbs, or corn flakes

* You need at least one yellow cheese so that the dish has the traditional yellow color.

Preheat the oven to 350. This one is super simple.  In a large pot, bring enough water to cover the macaroni to boil with 2 tablespoons of salt and the garlic powder.  When the macaroni is just al dente (soft, but with a definite bite to it), pull it off the stove and drain it immediately.  Put it in a large bowl.

While the macaroni is cooking, melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the flour (making a roux) until the mixture smells nutty.  Add the cream and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Once the macaroni is in the bowl, pour in the thickened cream, the nutmeg, and all the cheeses but the parm.  Stir well until the cheese starts to melt. Transfer the macaroni and cheese to a buttered, oven safe dish with high sides.  (I used a lasagna pan.)  Fill about 3/4 of the way and top with the cheese and panko.

Bake until the mixture sets and the top starts to turn crispy. This recipe serves enough to feed a small army.  Enjoy!

Special thanks to Ellen Malloy for helping me remember how to spell Roblechon!

6 Comments

  1. Whoa! That’s a lot of cheese!!! And breadcrumbs?

    A mac & cheese after my own heart 😉

    Can’t wait to try this one…the whole “cook healthier for New Year’s”thing can wait another week, right? Right!

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