Grilled Cheese and Macaroni

September 28, 2012

Lately I’ve noticed a lot of mac ‘n cheese boxes at the grocery store have a FUN NEW FLAVOR: “Grilled cheese.”

What makes grilled cheese, taste like grilled cheese (besides artificial flavorings)?

I’ve done grilled cheese sandwiches before. Coated the bread in crushed cheese crackers, and slathering a sweet layer of jam in the middle, but that’s fancy pants. The basic flavors of grilled cheese are: toasted, buttered bread and simple gooey cheese.

It’s really simple to replicate this flavor, and I don’t know why I’ve never done it before… to get that brown toasted flavor, we’ll be using browned butter in our sauce, and buttered, crushed pieces of toast for the topping.

Ingredients for Grilled Cheese and Macaroni

8 oz shredded Monterey jack cheese
8 oz shredded medium cheddar
2 Tbsp flour
3 Tbsp butter, browned
1 tsp kosher salt
2 1/2 C whole milk
5 slices buttered toast, cooled and crushed
1 lb of pasta, shape of your choice

Instructions for Grilled Cheese and Macaroni

Set oven to 375°F
Make your toast and slather on some butter. CRUSH CRUSH CRUSH. Set toast crumbs aside.
Boil pasta according to its box. Set aside.
Brown the butter. With your heat on low, melt the butter in a sauce pan. You need to watch this, so it doesn’t burn. When it looks, well, BROWN, and it smells nutty, you know you’ve hit the sweet spot.
Into the browned butter, whisk the flour. Keeping whisking for about 2 minutes, to give the flour enough time to absorb all of the browned butter, and to cook out the “raw” flour taste.
Are you still whisking? Good. Slowly add the milk and salt, and KEEP WHISKING. Raise your heat to medium, and cook until the mixture is thick, and will coat the back of a spoon.
This part is crucial: If, in the past, your cheese sauce has come out gritty/grainy, this is the step where things went wrong. Ready? When your milk mixture has thickened, turn off the heat and move the pan to a cool burner. Now keep whisking the thickened milk for 2 minutes. If your thickened milk is too hot, it will ruin your cheese, so by mixing it for a couple of minutes first, you’re lowering the temperature.
After whisking your thickened milk for 2 minutes, add your shredded cheese, and vigorously whisk until it’s melted.
Stir in pasta, pour into baking vessel, top with breadcrumbs, and bake at 375°F for 20 minutes.

You’ll be so surprised how much this taste like grilled cheese, and it’s all thanks to the browned butter. I don’t feel that I have to mention this, but just for shits and giggles, this is pasta+milk+cheese, aka: fat+fat+fat. So how about we go easy on the portion size, or we split some with a friend? It’s cool to indulge once in a while, but let’s keep this recipe a once-in-a-while type of food. Deal?

Grilled Cheese and Macaroni

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