How to Prepare Any-night-of-the-week Stephie's Best Ever Mac n' Cheese

Hello everybody, it's John, welcome to our recipe site. Today, I will show you a way to prepare a special dish, Step-by-Step Guide to Prepare Perfect Stephie's Best Ever Mac n' Cheese. It is one of my favorites. For mine, I'm gonna make it a bit tasty. This is gonna smell and look delicious.

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Many things affect the quality of taste from Stephie's Best Ever Mac n' Cheese, starting from the type of ingredients, then the selection of fresh ingredients, the ability to cut dishes to how to make and serve them. Don't worry if you want to prepare Stephie's Best Ever Mac n' Cheese delicious at home, because if you already know the trick then this dish can be used as an extraordinary special treat.

As for the number of servings that can be served to make Stephie's Best Ever Mac n' Cheese is 6 servings. So make sure this portion is enough to serve for yourself and your beloved family.

Just in addition, the time it takes to cook Stephie's Best Ever Mac n' Cheese estimated approx 1 hour.

To begin with this recipe, we must first prepare a few components. You can have Stephie's Best Ever Mac n' Cheese using 13 ingredients and 13 steps. Here is how you cook that.

My personalized version of traditional baked Mac n cheese. I started adding onion, cayenne and panko breadcrumbs a couple Christmases ago, and this has been requested for every family gathering since. It's easy to double or even triple the recipe, which is what I always have to do and it always vanishes quickly!

Ingredients and spices that need to be Take to make Stephie's Best Ever Mac n' Cheese:

1. 1 (8 oz) package elbow macaroni (penne and rotini work good too)
2. 2 tbsp butter
3. 1/2 tsp pure olive oil (better than evoo for sauteeing)
4. 1/2 small onion - finely chopped
5. 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
6. 2 cup (1 pint) half and half
7. 2 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese - shredded
8. 1/2 tsp salt
9. 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
10. 1 dash ground cayenne pepper (roughly 1/8 tsp)
11. Optional topping
12. 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
13. 1 tbsp olive oil

Steps to make Stephie's Best Ever Mac n' Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a 8x8 in. casserole dish with softened butter our spray with nonstick cooking spray, set aside.
2. In a large sauce pan cook macaroni according to package directions, drain in colander and set aside.
3. In the same sauce pan, melt butter with olive oil over med heat. The olive oil helps prevent browning of the butter.
4. Stir in chopped onion and cook until translucent, stirring occasionally. About 2 minutes.
5. Add flour stirring with whisk constantly for about 2 minutes more (to cook flour).
6. Gradually pour in half and half, whisking constantly. Stir in salt, pepper and cayenne. Bring to a low boil and continue boiling for 2 minutes. Still whisking constantly. (Half and half makes the best creamy sauce in my opinion. You could use milk if you want, but then stand a bigger chance of the sauce "breaking").
7. Reduce heat and gently simmer (stirring constantly, you guessed it) for 10 minutes to thicken.
8. Add shredded cheese a handful at a time. Whisking to incorporate each addition. Simmer, stirring, an additional 5 minutes, or until all cheese is melted. Turn off heat.
9. Return macaroni to sauce pan and gently fold into cheese sauce. Adjust seasoning to taste. I usually need to add a little more salt once the pasta is added (up to another 1/2 tsp), and sometimes add extra cayenne if we want a little extra kick.
10. Transfer to casserole dish. Now is where you add the topping if you want a little crunch. In a small bowl toss panko breadcrumbs with olive oil to coat. Sprinkle over top of mac n cheese.
11. Bake, uncovered, 20 minutes or until top is golden brown and edges are bubbly.
12. Notes: It is important to use extra sharp cheddar (or a mixture of sharp, strong cheeses) in order to really taste the cheese. Milder cheeses are not strong enough to truly provide a rich, cheesy flavor. I like using Kraft Shredded Triple Cheddar with a touch of Philly. If I feel like shedding my own I will get a block of good quality Vermont extra sharp white cheddar. If you want it extra, super cheese add up to an extra cup of cheese to your sauce. It's ok. I won't tell. ;-)
13. Substitutions and mix-ins: you can sub 1/4 cup sliced leeks for the onion, or omit this ingredient completely (although I say keep it). Can also sub nutmeg for cayenne, these brighten all the flavors and bring it all together (i would not use both). For variations in flavor, mix in about 4 slices crispy, crumbled bacon or 1/2 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained with all excess liquid squeezed out when you sure in pasta.

While this is in no way the end all be guide to cooking quick and easy lunches it's very good food for thought. The stark reality is that this will get your own creative juices flowing so you can prepare excellent lunches for your own family without the need to accomplish too terribly much heavy cooking through the approach.

So that's going to wrap this up for this exceptional food Simple Way to Prepare Speedy Stephie's Best Ever Mac n' Cheese. Thanks so much for your time. I'm confident you can make this at home. There is gonna be more interesting food in home recipes coming up. Don't forget to save this page in your browser, and share it to your family, friends and colleague. Thank you for reading. Go on get cooking!

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