Mac and Blue

By

by Erin Wade and Allison Arevalo.

Really Big Mac
The largest mac and cheese — more than 2,400 pounds of it — was made in New Orleans in 2010. It included 575 pounds of macaroni, 286 pounds of cheese, 56 pounds of butter, 26 pounds of flour and 1,100 pounds of milk.
Cheesy Memories
“Mac and cheese is a dish that we both love and cherish from childhood,” says Wade, who grew up with her dad’s version. Arevalo was raised on her grandmother’s version. Put the two together, and that’s the secret to Homeroom’s classic recipe.
Yankee Doodle Macaroni
In the18th century, macaroni was considered exotic fare—which explains why the term came to be used to describe a fashionable, hip guy of the day (aka a dandy).

View complete recipe

  • 4

Ingredients

  • Mac Sauce
  • SIDEDISH
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • 1 ⁄2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 ⁄2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsps. kosher salt or 1 tsp. table salt
  • Mac and Blue
  • 1 ⁄2 pound dried elbow pasta
  • 1 cup walnuts
  • 2 cups Mac Sauce
  • 1 3⁄4 cups grated Jack cheese
  • 1 ⁄4 cup crumbled blue cheese (Point Reyes Original Blue is recommended; any will do)

Preparation

Step 1

Sauce
Heat the milk in a pot over medium heat until it just starts to bubble but is not boiling, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Heat the butter over medium heat in a separate, heavy-bottomed pot. When the butter has just melted, add the flour and whisk constantly until the mixture turns light brown, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Slowly pour the warm milk, about 1 cup at a time, into the butter-flour mixture, whisking constantly. It will get very thick when you first add the milk and thinner as you slowly pour in the entire 3 cups. This is normal.

Once all the milk has been added, set the pot back over medium-high heat, and continue to whisk constantly. In the next 2 to 3 minutes, the sauce should come together and become silky and thick. Use the spoon test to make sure it’s ready. To do this, dip a metal spoon into the sauce — if the sauce coats the spoon and doesn’t slide off like milk, you’ll know it’s ready. You should be able to run your finger along the spoon and have the impression remain. Add the salt.

The Mac Sauce is ready to use immediately and does not need to cool. Store it in the fridge for a day or two if you want to make it ahead of time — it will get a lot thicker when put in the fridge, so it may need a little milk to thin it out a bit when it comes time to melt in the cheese. Try melting the cheese into the sauce first, and if it is too thick, then add milk as needed.

YIELD: 3 cups

MAC AND BLUE

Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until a little less than al dente. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain the pasta again.

Toast the walnuts (this brings out their tasty, nutty flavor): Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the walnuts on a baking sheet and bake them until brown and toasty, 5 to 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can toast the walnuts in a skillet over high heat, stirring them constantly, until they deepen in color and smell toasted, about 3 minutes. (The nuts don’t toast as evenly on the stove as in the oven, but it’s a shortcut.) Cool the nuts and chop them into smaller pieces.

Add the sauce and the cheeses to a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Stir until the cheese is barely melted, about 3 minutes. Slowly add the cooked pasta, stir, and continue cooking over medium heat while stirring continuously until it’s nice and hot.

Spoon into bowls, top with the walnuts, and serve.

View complete recipe