Macaroni and Cheese

So lately I've been having this weird craving for Entemann's Chocolate Doughnuts... It's definitely not the healthiest craving to have, but yeah, what can you do?

I made some pretty wonderful Mac and cheese the other night. It would have been significantly better had I not over cooked it, hence the lack of pictures, but our oven is rather finicky. For cookies, I typically check like 3 times before pulling them out, but I digress. So yeah, here's some wonderful, slightly grown up macaroni and cheese :)

Slightly Grown Up Macaroni and Cheese

2 cups macaroni
olive oil
salt

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups milk
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

4oz sharp cheddar cheese
3oz white cheddar cheese
2 oz bleu cheese
(for a total of 9 oz so feel free to mix and match different cheeses: gruyere would be delicious, and I'd personally love to try a nice aged gouda. I bet it would be good-a *grin*)

Breadcrumbs (store bought, homemade, crushed croutons, it's all good - just not overly seasoned)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

First thing's first: get the macaroni onto boil in some salted water. Once the water starts boiling add a drizzle of oil and toss the macaroni in. Cook by the package directions, usually 7 minutes, and it should be al dente.

Heat the milk to a simmer making sure not to boil it. At this point I put in a small bunch of herbs (sage, rosemary, thyme) to steep, but it's not necessary. While that's going melt the butter in a pan large enough to hold the macaroni. Add the flour and whisk until dissolved. Cook for a minute or two so the flour taste goes away and slowly add the heated milk and whisk until the roux is dissolved. Continue cooking for another minute or two until the white sauce thickens. Add the nutmeg and salt then, off the heat, stir in the cheese. Best cheese sauce EVER.

When the macaroni is done, drain it, add it to the cheese sauce. Pour into a pan (an 8x8 square glass dish worked great for me), top with bread crumbs and bake for 30 minutes, until the macaroni is bubbly and the breadcrumbs are brown. Don't over bake :)