Baked Macaroni And Cheese Recipe

A gorgeous healthy recipe for macaroni and cheese.

Ingredients

4 cups 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
10 ounces cheddar, shredded
1 ounces parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper

Serves 6-8

Directions

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

To cook pasta, fill a large pot 2/3 of the way with hot tap water. Add 1 teaspoon salt to the water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and stir with a wooden spoon to be sure noodles don’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

Turn the heat down, enough to maintain a boil and stir every so often to prevent noodles sticking. Do not cover the pot. After 8-10 minutes, take a piece of pasta out of the water, allow it to cool and do a test for doneness.

Bite into the pasta. If it is too hard to bite or you see a white center, it needs to cook a little longer. When it cooks all the way through it is ready and cooked el dente. Turn off the heat, put the pasta into a strainer. Shake out excess water and put the pot back onto a cool part of the stove.

In the meanwhile, in a separate pot, melt the margarine. Whisk in the flour and mustard powder and keep it moving for about five minutes.Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf. In a small bowl, beat egg.

Slowly add 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture, stirring vigorously. You need to only add a little at a time and stir to temper the egg so you do not cook it.

Pour egg mixture back into the milk mixture.

Stir in 8 ounces of shredded cheese.

Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into baking dish.

Top with remaining cheese, including parmesan, cover with aluminum foil. Place into the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the foil and bake another few minutes to lightly brown the top. Serve hot.