Ultimate Comfort

Mom's Mac-N-Cheese

Living over 3500km away from home, I crave childhood favourites often. They remind me of safe and happy times in Kitchener, Ontario, and make me feel like I'm sitting back at with family at our old kitchen table, chatting about our day and our plans.  The memory is helped by the fact that I am now the owner of Mom and Dad's old kitchen table, so I can close my eyes and almost be there.
There are so many ways to enhance and "jazz-up" mac-n-cheese, but I still love the classic. Elbow noodles, cheddar cheese, big squirt of Heinz ketchup. Perfection.

Ingredients

2 cups elbow macaroni

3 tbsp + 2 tbsp butter (unsalted preferred)

1 tbsp dried onion flakes

3 tbsp AP flour

2 cups milk

1 pinch each: nutmeg, powdered mustard, paprika 

S&P to taste

1-2 cups + 3 tbsp shredded cheddar cheese

1/3 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a casserole dish with veg oil. Set aside. Cook macaroni as per directions, until just el dante. Drain and set aside.

2. Warm milk in microwave, 1-2 minutes. Set aside. Melt 3tbsp of butter in a med saucepan.  Add dried onion flakes and cook for 1-2 minutes. Whisk in AP flour to form a paste, and cook 1-2 minutes.

3. Slowly pour the warmed milk into the flour mixture, stirring constantly over med-low heat. Continue to stir until milk mixture begins to thicken. Once thick, add nutmeg, powdered mustard, paprika, S&P. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese until melted.
4. Combine cheese mixture with noddles. Add to prepared casserole dish.

5. Melt remaining 2tbsp of butter in a small pan. Remove from heat. Add panko and reserved 3tbsp of cheese to butter - stir to combine. Sprinkle mixture on top for macaroni.

6. Baked, uncovered, 20-25 minutes, until hot a bubbly.