Only the best Macaroni & Cheese Recipe Ever.

At an end of the semester gathering, Zips and I were lucky enough to park ourselves in the best spot at a party: the kitchen. One of our favorite people to work with brought some homemade Mac & Cheese and promptly knocked my socks off. I kept going on about how this was like that episode of Bobby Flay's Throw Down. It has crunch. It has lots of cheese. It has complexity (a touch of garlic! Panko bread crumbs!). It feels homey. I begged and begged for the recipe, and took a photo so I could post it here for the world to enjoy. Believe me, I'll write again when I try this one myself. These are her instructions verbatim.

Macaroni & Cheese a la Diana

While 1 box of Barilla elbow pasta is cooking to al dente (5 to 6 min.) do the following.

3 Tablespoons of butter melted in a pan (a healthy margarine also works)

3 Tablespoons of flour into the melted butter

Stir until all the flour is incorporated into the butter as one usually does for a roux.

3 cups organic whole milk – add to the above, using a whisk, tiny bit at a time in the beginning so there are no clumps, until you get a smooth sauce. Keep stirring as you add the rest of the milk and while you cook the mixture over medium high heat to get it going to a simmer, then lower the heat to slow simmer to cook till completely thickened.

½ pound to 1 pound of American deli cheese, Dietz & Watson or Land O Lakes. Now is when Cheese is incorporated 3 slices at a time to the roux. Just keep tasting on a separate clean spoon till it’s cheesy enough for your taste and keep stirring.

Add ¼ to ½ teaspoon of dry mustard.

Dash or two of soy sauce (to taste) – instead of salt!

Dash of Worstershire sauce

Dash or two of white pepper

Tiny pinch of sugar

Taste and adjust as needed. Shut off heat. Drain pasta & put pasta back into the pot it was cooked in. Stir in the cheese sauce and let sit while you prepare crumb topping.

(save a cup of the pasta water to thin if sauce if needed after it stands in the pot while you make the crumb topping).

Crumb topping:

1 Tablespoon olive oil in a large pan

1 small clove garlic minced or from garlic press

1 Tablespoon or more if you like of fresh chopped Italian parsley

Handful of unseasoned Panko bread crumbs. (comes out to ½ a cup or so)

Heat olive oil gently. Add the garlic over low heat so it cooks very gently – but does not brown - and imparts it’s flavor to the oil. Remove the garlic with a slotted spoon and discard. Add the parsley and the Panko and stir till coated with the oil mix.

In a 13 x 9 casserole pan that has been greased or sprayed with Pam, pour the mac & cheese combo. Smooth down the top and then sprinkle with ¾ of the crumbs. Now use a layer (amount to taste) of Sharp Cheddar cheese either shredded or sliced to top the bread crumbs and then evenly put on remaining crumb topping. I used sliced Tillamook sharp cheddar and just covered most of the top with 4 whole slices and one more broken to fill in empty spaces.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 20 to 25 min. – you will see bubbling around edges. Then broil to brown the crumb topping – keeping a close eye on it so it doesn’t burn!

This is seriously the best mac & cheese I've ever had. Try it. It's worth the labor! You'll be hooked!

Oh. Diana supplied not only the Mac & Cheese, but also a lovely wine crate that I had big plans for. The kitties have taken it over, however, so I must be content to have a rather bohemian kitty bed in the window.

The cats also like the Mac & Cheese.