This recipe will make 8 to 10 servings.  You can cut it in half or make the whole thing and put one pan in the freezer, covered with foil and in a plastic bag.  It will be delicious a month later.  When you are heating it up after being in the freezer, let it thaw in the fridge for a few hours and then pour a few TBLSPs of milk over it before you put it in the oven.

 

1 cup butter

1/2 cup each finely chopped celery and onion

2 TBLSP. Dijon Mustard

1 tsp. coarsely ground pepper

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. poultry spice

3/4 cup  flour

8 cups whole milk (2% is fine as well.  your dish will not be as rich) heated for two minutes in the microwave to get the chill off

**2 or 2½ 500 g packages of pasta.

***CHEESE:  4 cups of grated gruyere and 4 cups of aged cheddar.  With an extra ½ cup of each to add to your bread crumbs for topping.  If you have a food processor this is the time to get it out.

Cook pasta according to package instructions in a large stock pot.  Your pasta needs space to boil and expand.  Do not over cook.  It should be el dente when it is drained. When you add the sauce, the noodles will keep expanding and you don’t want the noodles to be mushy.  Drain immediately and set aside in a large bowl.

In a medium pan on medium heat:

melt ½ cup butter and add onions and celery.  Cook for five minutes.  add mustard, salt, pepper, poultry spice and stir

add flour and stir well to mix

add 1 cup of milk and stir well

add the rest of the milk a bit at a time and stir well.  The flour mixture should be blending with the milk and making a paste and then a thin milky sauce.

turn heat to medium high and cook and STIR until the thin mixture begins to thicken and  it is just beginning to bubble.  This step will take approximately 10 minutes.  It needs to be stirred constantly so it doesn’t stick to the pan.  It won’t be thick but it will be thicker.  Turn heat off and add the 8 cups of grated  cheese.  Stir to melt and incorporate.

After I took this picture I added a bit more sauce.  It needs to be Saucy

Pour sauce over pasta which you have placed in a large bowl (Nano used to say it was a terrible job to try and mix something in a bowl that was too small.) and stir to mix well.    It is possible that you will have a little more sauce than is needed.  You want it to look quite juicy but not look like you have a pool of sauce with a bit of pasta.  Just remember that you should have enough sauce on the pasta that it is quite juicy.  If you have leftover sauce, just keep it in the fridge and us it over the next week as a topper for broccoli or cauliflower.

This recipe will make two 2 Litre casseroles and each one will feed at least four adults.  (except that it is really delicious and you will want to eat the whole dish yourself)  Fill the dishes to ¾ full.

if you have extra of the sauce and noodles, fill another casserole.  You can keep the extras in the freezer for two to three weeks. I often buy some smaller foil pans from the dollar store and make a few for my children.   Remove from the freezer in the morning and leave it on your counter to thaw.

to make crumbs melt remaining ½ cup butter and add 2 cups of ****bread crumbs and 1 cup of grated cheese.  toss together and spread over casseroles.  If you want more, melt a little more butter and add more bread crumbs.

Bake the Mac and Cheese in a 350 oven for one hour.

**I use Italian made pasta and the one pictured is my new favourite.

You don’t need to use this particular shape but be sure to use something that has lots of cracks and crevices in it.  That is what holds the sauce which is what gives the dish a ton of flavour.

***CHEESE:  I use only aged cheese.  If you have a cheese monger or a deli nearby, I suggest you go and have them slice you the amount you want.  I get my gruyere from the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto and sometimes get my cheddar there as well.  I often get my cheddar at Costco since they have the large blocks of Balderson in several ages.  I believe they have 3 and 5 year and either works well.

****I like to make my own bread crumbs from left over bread that I store in my freezer until I have enough to make it worthwhile getting my food processor out.  I have a large plastic container with a lid (or if I don’t have that much I just put it in 500 ml yogurt tubs) that I store the crumbs in, in my freezer and they are ready to go when I need them.  

I would love to hear your feedback once you make this recipe.  If you make adjustments, let me know.  #alwayslearning

♥