#10 - Macaroni and Cheese

A few weeks ago, we went to Tony and Meg's house for dinner, and they made homemade macaroni and cheese. Homemade macaroni and cheese! What a remarkable idea.

After eating several platefuls, we decided that their recipe was going to make the list this year.

Macaroni and Cheese

From Tony and Meg via Everyday Italian
There are many different kinds of macaroni and cheese. There is one-cheese macaroni and cheese, two-cheese macaroni and cheese, and so on. This one is a three-cheese macaroni and cheese because it uses Fontina, Parmigiano, and mozzarella. (Not to mention a whole bunch of heavy whipping cream.)
For a busy weeknight side dish, this was a pretty easy recipe to make because all we really had to do is mix the ingredients together, cook the pasta, and put it in the oven.
When we had this at Tony's, he pointed out that sometimes it comes out a little soupy. So we took his advice, and after mixing the pasta and cheeses with the cream and milk, we scooped the wet cheesy pasta into the tray, but at the end we didn't pour the rest of the liquid in. We basically just made sure that the cheese and pasta weren't swimming in milk.
And nothing's better than adding a little more cheese on top to get crispy.
This stuff is crazy good, and the perfect side for our chicken cutlets. The best part is that we halved the recipe, but we still had a lot of delicious leftovers.
Here's the recipe. It will serve around six. Halve that if you're only two and want leftovers.

Ingredients

• Butter, for greasing dish
• 12 ounces pasta
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 1/2 cups whole milk
• 2 tsp all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups grated Fontina cheese
• 3/4 cup grated Parmigiano
• 3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Butter a 13" x 9"glass baking dish and set aside.
3. Cook the pasta in salted water until tender but still firm to bite, and drain well.
4. Whisk the cream, milk, flour, salt, and pepper in large bowl to blend.
5. Stir in 1 cup Fontina, 1/2 cup Parmigiano, and 1/2 cup mozzarella.
6. Add the pasta and toss to coat.
7. Transfer the pasta mixture to the buttered dish.
8. Toss the remaining 1 cup Fontina, 1/4 cup Parmigiano and 1/4 cup mozzarella in a small bowl to blend.
9. Sprinkle the cheese mixture over the noodle mixture.
10. Bake until the sauce bubbles and the cheese melts and begins to brown on top, about 20 minutes.
11. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.