Three Cheese Macaroni
This delicious recipe features a creamy and flavorful sauce. It's excellent for gatherings or any occasion.
This delicious recipe features a creamy and flavorful sauce. It's excellent for gatherings or any occasion.
- Carbohydrate 29.9034388101469 g
- Cholesterol 88.9571050089884 mg
- Fat 31.4949143288838 g
- Fiber 0.913654939590132 g
- Protein 13.2738797236792 g
- Saturated Fat 19.1545804923956 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (112g)
- Sodium 782.527681498918 mg
- Sugar 28.9897838705568 g
- Trans Fat 2.45506706534033 g
- Calories 452 calories
Step-by-step
- Melt the butter in a pan and add garlic.
- Add Flour and cook for 2 minutes. (You are making a roux)
- Slowly add the flower in small amounts and stir until completely blended before adding next portion.
- Once you have a nice cream add mustard and oregano and set aside. (You can add the sour cream at this point and any other optional cream based additions you may be adding at this time.)
- Cook and drain the macaroni.
- Reheat the roux slightly and add the macaroni and cheese. (Don't add the parmesan cheese yet.) *Add the macaroni to your liking, you may use more or less depending on what you like.*
- At this point you can finish the dish on the stove top, but I prefer to pop it in the oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Don't forget to top it with the parmesan.
Is the sauce thick enough yet, or will it break into an oily separation once the grated cheese goes in? Achieving a stable cheese sauce requires respecting the starch ratios in your butter and flour paste, cooking that initial mixture for precisely two minutes to eliminate any raw grain flavor without browning the fats. When building the dairy base, whisking the liquid gradually prevents lumps from forming around the starch molecules.
Judging Doneness Visually
Without a thermometer, determining readiness relies entirely on physical cues. The roux should coat the back of a spoon cleanly, leaving a distinct line when dragged with a finger. Once the macaroni and melting cheeses are combined, transfer the pan to a 350-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes, watching for the parmesan topping to turn a pale golden brown and the edges to bubble gently. Scaling this quantity requires keeping the ratio of flour to butter at a one-to-one weight equivalency to maintain thickening power.
- Grainy sauce indicates the cheese was added while the liquid boiled; always lower heat before melting dairy.
- Oily pools on top mean the cheddar and monterey cheeses contained too much moisture or were heated past their breaking point.
- Starchy pasta water can be reserved in quarter-cup increments to thin out a sauce that seizes up too quickly.
