Alton Brown's Baked Mac n Cheese

Ever since I saw a card recently at the San Francisco Cheese School, baked mac and cheese has been on my mind. The card said, "You're the mac to my cheese" and had a really cute illustration, and I had to buy it for Riley because it was obviously cheesy (haha, get it?), but also just supes cute, and cause, YOLO. We were just down south at my family's cabin in North Carolina for the Fourth of July, and I'm slightly embarrassed to say that we didn't really eat any southern food while there except some brought by family on the 4th.

Some ladies from work were coming over today to wine taste at my house, and they really wanted to eat ribs. And mac and cheese pretty much goes with anything, so I figured I'd make that, too. Next week we have a Happy Hour at work for my colleagues that are coming for an offsite from our Austin office, and we're having a bunch of cheese and wine to represent California. We needed to make sure that the wine we are serving wasn't poisonous, so you know, wine tasting time + ribs + mac and cheese = a good Sunday.

It was an absolutely beautiful day. I cannot express how happy I was to be grilling ribs, sipping great wine, and be surrounded by such wonderful company on this lovely Sunday!

The recipe I found for the mac and cheese is Alton Brown's, and I followed it pretty much to a T. I omitted the onion, but other than that, it's pretty on point. This is the type of mac and cheese you wish restaurants served instead of the slippery, TOO cheesy kind. The topping with the buttered panko really takes it to the next level. If you wish to follow Alton Brown's recipe instead of mine, you can find it here.

I will post the ribs recipe shortly! Thanks for readin!

Ingredients:

1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 large egg
12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta to al dente.

2. While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it is free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

3. Melt the butter in a sauté pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.