American style macaroni and cheese

American style macaroni and cheese... How do they differ from the usual macaroni and cheese? Mac and Cheese is a traditional US dish where pasta is boiled and then baked in the oven with lots of delicious cheese sauce. Actually, he sets the tone for such a casserole, because the pasta itself has a neutral taste and gratefully takes all the flavorings.

To make a cheese sauce with a rich creamy taste, you need not just cheese, but a lot, a lot of cheese, and preferably several varieties. The dish cannot be called dietary or suitable for proper nutrition, but the fact that it is delicious is no doubt about it!

The type of pasta can be any medium size: horns, coils, spirals, tubes, etc.

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Ingredients:

Pasta - 300 g

Butter - 50 g (+ a little to grease the mold)

Flour - 60 g

Milk - 450 ml

Semi-hard cheese (2-3 types) - 400 g

Processed cheese - 100 g

Salt - ½ tsp

Ground paprika - 1 tsp

Garlic (grated) - 1 tsp

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Thyme - ½ tsp

Nutmeg - 1/8 tsp

Ground black pepper - to taste

Greens - for serving

Step by step recipe:

Prepare your ingredients. Any cheese will do, and instead of processed cheese, you can take any soft or semi-hard, the main thing is that all these varieties melt well.

Turn on the oven to warm up to a temperature of 190-205 degrees. Grease a baking dish with butter.

Pour enough water into a large saucepan and add a generous pinch of salt. Put it on fire and let it boil, then add the pasta and cook until al dente for as long as indicated on the package (usually 6-8 minutes). Do not overcook, because they will still cook in the oven along with the sauce.

Instant steamed pasta is not suitable for this dish; you need a regular durum wheat pasta.

Grate semi-hard cheeses, and leave the melted cheese in the package for now.

While the pasta is boiling, prepare the cheese sauce. At first it will seem that the process is complicated, but in fact it is not and its preparation will take not much longer than cooking pasta.

The first step is to prepare the "ru" - a natural thickener that is used in many sauces. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and add all the flour.

Stir immediately with a whisk to avoid clumping.

This will make a smooth paste. Cook the "ru" for 1-2 minutes to remove the smell and taste of raw flour. Stir the mixture constantly.

Then, without removing the saucepan from the heat and without stopping stirring, pour in about half of the milk. Stir, make sure there are no lumps.

And then pour in the remaining milk. Continue to simmer the sauce over low heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened.

You can check if the sauce has thickened enough in the same way as when making a custard: dip a spatula or spoon in it, and then draw a line with your finger. If it does not disappear, then the density is sufficient. Reduce heat under the saucepan to low.

Now you can add flavor and aroma to the sauce: add the grated garlic, thyme and spices.

Thyme can be dry or fresh. If it is fresh, then tear off the leaves and chop them with a knife.

Mix everything and add the processed cheese. Once it has melted in the hot milk, add the grated cheese, setting aside 1-2 handfuls to decorate the top of the dish.

Stir the cheese into the sauce and let it melt.

By this time, the pasta is cooked, put it on a sieve, let the water drain, and then return it to an empty saucepan, and pour the cheese sauce here.

Stir.

Transfer the pasta and cheese mixture to the prepared pan and flatten. Sprinkle with grated cheese on top.

Place the dish on a larger baking sheet. For what? In the oven, the sauce will boil and the cheese will melt, and all this "splendor" can begin to drip to the bottom of the oven. To avoid this, a large baking sheet is needed.