Macaroni and cheese is one of the best foods ever – hands down. If anyone disagrees with this, you need to check to make sure you’ve got a pulse and you’re breathing because unless you’re allergic, you either a) are nuts, or b) haven’t had the best macaroni and cheese ever. Get a piece of paper and a pen (or hit the “print” icon) and save this recipe because you will win the hearts of your family and will be asked to make it again and again.
WARNING: This recipe is not diet-friendly.
Ingredients:
8 oz elbow macaroni pasta
8 tablespoons unsalted stick butter
8 oz evaporated milk (found in the baking section)
8 oz Velveeta cheese, cubed
Salt
Pepper
(As you can see, the ratio in this recipe is 1 to 1 to 1 to 1. Allow 2 oz of pasta per person and go from there. This recipe serves 4 (4 x 2 = 8). Don’t guess with the pasta – use a scale to make it perfectly!)
1) Fill a big pot (don’t use those mini-pots) ¾ way up with water and bring to a boil. Boiling is when there are bubbles happily floating to the top. Reluctant bubbles aren’t good enough.
2) When the water is boiling, add roughly 2 teaspoons of salt and your noodles to the pot. Turn down the heat one notch and cook the pasta until it’s al dente (cooking term for almost done… when you test a noodle, it should be firm and have just a slight undoneness to it… if the noodles are mush, they’re overcooked. You can still use them, but make a mental note not to get caught up folding laundry next time.)
3) Drain the noodles thoroughly in a colander (the big bowl with all the holes). No need to rinse the noodles. When all the water is gone, put them back in the pot.
4) For now, don’t put your pot back on the burner you were using. Put it on a cool burner or on the counter or on some surface that’s cool and won’t get burned.
5) Add your butter to the pasta – yes, all of it. In this recipe, it’s an entire stick. Don’t pull a diet move and skimp on the butter. This is macaroni and cheese and I warned that it wasn’t diet-friendly. If you’re on a diet, you shouldn’t be making this anyway.
6) Stir your pasta and butter together until the butter starts to melt. Now you can put it back on the burner and turn the heat down to the second to lowest setting. Waiting a minute or two before putting the pot on a hot burner allows the butter to melt and protects your pasta from being scorched on the bottom of the pan. Do you want to be stuck cleaning up that mess later?
7) Add your evaporated milk and Velveeta cubes. Stir every couple minutes or so until the cheese is completed melted. Avoid over-stirring to protect the shape of the noodles (again, a lesson learned if they turn to mush).
8) Salt and pepper to taste. There’s something about Velveeta that requires salt to cut the taste so be sure to add a little at a time and then taste a few noodles. Don’t be afraid to add more if you think it needs it.
9) Serve immediately. This is NOT something you want to make entirely ahead of time and then bring over for a pot luck. If you want to do this ahead of time, make the noodles and then do the rest at the place you’ll eat.
TA – DA !
To answer any questions from those who need the idiot’s guide to cooking (*cough* Kim *cough*):
- no, tub butter is not the same as stick butter
- the milk you drink cannot be substituted for evaporated milk
- NO cheese cannot be substituted for Velveeta – EVER
- yes, you CAN use 2% Velveeta or 2% evaporated milk to help with the nutritional stats (if you dare compute them!)
Note: Every recipe I provide is my recipe in that I cook it. I find my recipes online, cookbooks… just about anywhere so yes I copy, yes I steal and yes I enjoy every bite! :)
My uncle makes mac n cheese from scratch for parties and my kids don’t like it because it doesn’t taste like what comes out of the box…
I might try this -I am not a big mac n cheese fan unless it is really good!
That sounds delish! And like something I would carry around for years on my hips…oh, to be young and thin again!