White Macaroni and Cheese

There are so many recipes for macaroni and cheese around the internet, and I decided to try this one because it claimed to be like Panera's macaroni. I have a serious weakness for Panera. If I could eat there every day, I think I would be completely content.  This recipe...was not my favorite. It tasted fine, just not at all like Panera's macaroni.

White Macaroni

 

Ingredients

 

1 lb pasta shapes, such as shells
4 tbsp butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1½ cups milk 
1 cup half-and-half
1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper
2 tsp Dijon mustard
¼ tsp hot sauce
4 oz white American cheese (or 6 slices)
8 oz white cheddar cheese

Do you know how hard it is to find white American cheese where I am? Very hard. The only thing I could find was the slices, so that's what I used. 


Directions:

1. Shred your cheeses. It's easier to do this at the beginning than trying to do it while whisking away later.

 

2. Cook your pasta according to the directions and drain. If I'm doing two things at once, I always have to set a timer for 8 minutes to remind myself to check my pasta.

Fun Fact: Placing a wooden spoon over your pot keeps it from boiling over. Usually.

 3. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter.

4. Whisking constantly, add the flour into the butter and cook for 1-2 minutes until it turns a light brown.

Light brown color

5. Slowly whisk in the milk and keep whisking until there are no flour lumps left. I check by tilting the pan a little and making sure there aren't any lumps on the bottom.

Lump free!

6. Add in the salt, mustard, and hot sauce.  Lower the heat to medium and continue to cook until the sauce bubbles and thickens, about 6-8 minutes.  

Bubbly and thick

 7. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the cheese a little at a time, making sure it is fully melted before you add more. I did a hand full of cheddar, then two slices of American, then continued until there was no more cheese left.  

First cheddar....

...then American

8. Once all the cheese is added and melted, add the sauce to the pasta. Mix well until the pasta is fully coated in the sauce.

Smooth and creamy cheese sauce

9. Combine the sauce and noodles together and you're done!

Sure looks yummy, doesn't it?

This recipe ended up being very mustardy, and not very cheesy tasting at all. It didn't necessarily taste bad. It just didn't taste at all like I expected, so it was disappointing. Hence why I ended up doing this:

More cheese!

This recipe has potential to be good. I'd definitely cut way down on the mustard, and maybe even cut it out completely. The American cheese also didn't seem to add any flavor. I think this would be amazing with some Gouda cheese with the cheddar. I plan on trying this again and seeing if it can be saved sometime. Overall, the idea behind this recipe was good, but the flavor just wasn't what I wanted it to be.