- Hey, guys.
It's Alix.
Welcome to my apartment.
I'm about to make one of my all-time favorite recipes
for mac and cheese.
Now, obviously, mac and cheese is one of the
ultimate comfort foods.
So at a time like this, it really comes in handy.
Listen, I know some ingredients are a little hard to come by
right now, but this recipe is super simple.
It uses a lot of ingredients you might already have
in your pantry.
And if you can't get everything,
at least I hope it inspires you
to make a creation of your own.
All right.
Let's get cheesy.
I'm already pretty cheesy, but...
(upbeat music)
All right, welcome to my kitchen.
So for this mac and cheese recipe,
we're gonna be using a few basic ingredients.
Pasta, of course.
You can use whatever kind of pasta you have on hand.
I'm using orecchiette.
For the next key ingredient, the cheese, of course,
we're gonna be using two different types,
sharp cheddar and Gruyere.
You can use pre-shredded cheese.
You can also use whatever kind of cheese you'd like.
Again, we're not being picky here.
For the other dairy,
we're gonna be using milk and heavy cream.
If you don't have heavy cream,
you can use an extra cup of milk.
For the topping, I'm gonna be using panko breadcrumbs.
And you can use regular breadcrumbs.
You could also get creative.
Crush up some crackers.
Crush up some chips.
It's the perfect time to be creative.
And for our remaining ingredients, pantry staples.
Butter, oil, salt, pepper, flour.
That's it.
Let's get cookin'.
(upbeat music)
All right, so I've got my water boiling.
I am gonna salt this pretty generously.
I like my pasta water to be really salty,
because your pasta will absorb that salt and be flavored.
They say it should be as salty as the sea.
Now I'm gonna add in my pasta.
Again, I'm using orecchiette.
I'm just gonna do the full box.
Stir that up a little.
So I'm gonna be cooking my pasta to just before al dente.
We aren't cooking it all the day through
because we're gonna be baking the mac and cheese later,
and we don't want our pasta to be mushy.
So I'm gonna let my pasta cook
for about seven to eight minutes,
but then we'll be ready to move on.
All right, our pasta is done.
It's al dente.
I gave it a little taste.
I'm gonna drain this, and then we'll move on.
All right, my pasta is drained.
I'm putting it back in our pot.
Right in there.
So I'm just gonna be setting it aside
on the counter for later.
You don't need to put it in the fridge or anything crazy.
Just let it hang out.
Pasta is done.
(upbeat music)
Now it's time to get cheesy.
So, like I said, I'm gonna be using two types of cheese,
sharp cheddar and Gruyere.
We need a lot of it, so let's going.
We need about four cups of this cheddar cheese
and two cups of the Gruyere.
I've been eating a lot of mac and cheese.
I have to say it's like one of my go-to comfort foods,
and right now, we all need a little extra comfort,
am I right?
Wow, look at this big bowl of cheese.
It's as big as my head.
Back to the stove we go.
It's just over here.
(upbeat music)
So to start, we're gonna make our roux.
The roux is the butter and the flour mixture.
This will help thickens things up.
So first, I'm gonna melt six tablespoons of butter.
I am using a pretty deep, pretty big saucepan here,
because we got a lot of cheese.
This recipe is definitely not healthy, but you know.
Who's keeping track these days?
All right, my butter is melted down.
I'm gonna add in the flour.
I'm gonna be whisking this pretty constantly
to make sure the flour does not clump.
I just keep it moving.
(scraping)
So it's not exactly ideal to use this metal whisk
on my non-stick pan, but it's all I got right now.
Don't come for me, internet.
Be gentle with me.
I'm fragile right now.
I've been alone so long.
So I'm just gonna start gradually pouring this in,
whisking while I go.
And you're gonna take your time here.
You just wanna make sure that the sauce is as smooth
and creamy as it can possibly be.
In with the heavy cream.
And now I'm just gonna continue to keep this up
for a few minutes, stirring to make sure
we get a nice, silky smooth sauce.
Our sauce is looking really beautiful.
It's thickening up really nicely.
I am gonna season this with some salt.
And some pepper.
You can do this to taste.
I've turned the heat down now to like a medium low,
just to make sure it doesn't get too hot.
We don't want our sauce burning.
It's beautiful.
Time for the cheese.
We're gonna do it in batches
to make sure it melts down each time.
Whoo!
Guys, this is looking so good already.
I can't wait.
I mean, if you're gonna eat mac and cheese,
you might as well go for it, right?
All right, the last of our cheese going in.
The final stir.
Listen.
She nice and thick.
Beautiful.
I kind of want to eat it.
Is that bad?
Can I try it?
I guess there's no rules.
Who am I asking?
I'm here alone.
Oh my god.
Come on.
I can eat that straight out of the bowl.
We don't even have to go on.
We're done.
Goodbye, guys.
See you next time.
Just kidding.
All right.
It is time to add our pasta.
I'm just gonna dump that right in there
into our cheesy deliciousness.
Oh.
Now we just want to coat all of our pasta
in our delicious cheese sauce.
Whoo!
Listen to that.
It's like ASMR.
(squelching)
All right, our mac and cheese is looking beautiful.
Honestly, you could stop and eat this right now,
but I've got some extra time on my hands,
so we're just gonna take it up to the next level.
(upbeat music)
All right, moving on to our final bonus step.
We're gonna make our topping.
This is great for adding a little extra crunch,
a little extra texture.
Typically, I'd use regular panko,
but I only have whole-wheat panko right now.
Totally fine,
and I get like that little extra health kick.
So I have two cups of panko.
I'm gonna add six tablespoons of melted butter
and a cup of shredded Parmesan cheese.
Mix that up.
All right, topping is done.
That was super easy.
Time to assemble.
(upbeat music)
We're at the home stretch.
I'm getting really excited.
Also very hungry, so I'm ready for this.
So I'm just gonna pour this
right into a greased baking dish.
You need a pretty big dish for this.
If you don't have a big enough dish,
you could also just separate it into two,
do two smaller ones.
And now for the final element, our topping.
Just get it all over the top.
Oh, this looks so good.
I can't wait try it.
All right, so my oven is preheated to 350 degrees.
I'm gonna bake this for about 30 minutes,
and then we can dig in.
All right, let's take a look.
Oh, man.
Look at that.
Whoo!
Wow.
This is gonna last me like a year.
Now if you have it,
you can garnish this with some fresh chopped parsley,
some green onion, something green.
I don't have that, so I'm not gonna do it.
Looks so good.
Nice and hot, nice and cheesy.
A little crunchy.
I can't wait to try it.
Oh my god.
I'm gonna need a minute alone.
Good thing I'm alone in my apartment.
This definitely ain't no boxed mac and cheese,
let me tell ya.
Well, that is my ultimate mac and cheese.
I had a blast making it.
I'm gonna have a blast eating it.
I hope it inspires you to do some good cooking of your own.
If you want me to try out anything else, let me know,
and I'll see you guys later.