hello this is chef john from food wishes comm with instant mac and cheese that's
right we're gonna do a no boil no bake one pan mac and cheese that could be
made just as fast as this stuff from the box not to mention it's gonna taste way
better since we're gonna use real cheese and the ones we want and i know that all
sounds too good to be true but it is and what follows is video
proof so with that let's go ahead and get started
by bringing some cold fresh milk up to a simmer on medium heat and while we're
waiting for that we can go ahead and toss in some kosher salt a little shake
of cayenne and a very very tiny pinch of freshly grated nutmeg alright just a
hint in fact if you're gonna put too much don't put any and then we'll also
go ahead and sneak in about a tablespoon of butter and then what we're gonna do
once this comes up to a simmer is believe it or not stir our dry elbow
macaroni directly into this milk so yes we're gonna completely skip the boil the
pasta step and we're simply gonna cook it in what will eventually be our cheese
sauce and one big tip here do not under cook your pasta
alright so due to the full time it says in the package and we don't have to stir
this constantly but we do want to stir it often so at least every couple
minutes and of course while that's cooking in between strains we can go
ahead and grade our cheese and this time i went with two kinds of cheddar an
extra sharp orange and a medium white and the reason I'm going with this
combination besides I love the taste I think that's going to produce the most
attractive color but anyway once our cheeses that we'll go back and check our
pasta and this is what mine look like after cooking in that milk for eight
minutes and then what we'll do once our pastas cooked is reduce our heat to the
lowest setting and then we will jump our cheese all in at once and we will give
it a stir until it just melts which is only gonna take a few seconds at which
point we're gonna turn off the heat and quickly cover this and then let it sit
undisturbed for exactly three minutes and during that brief time something
sort of magical happens which you are just about to see okay so after letting
it rest for three minutes we'll go ahead and pull off the lid and we will give
that a stir and as you can see our sauce has thickened up beautifully
and those holes in our elbow macaroni have sucked it in through I believe
capillary action but don't quote me on that I only have a two-year degree but
anyway we'll go ahead and give that a stir as well as taste it for seasoning
it might need is just a little touch of salt so I want to hand stirred some in
and give it one last taste and that's it once we think that's tasting good we'll
go ahead and serve that up immediately into a warm bowl since the professional
never puts hot food in a cold bowl and if everything's gone according to plan
you should be looking at one of the creamiest most gorgeous mac and cheese
you've ever seen and by the way if you're thinking that looks fine and I'm
sure it tastes amazing but my favorite part of mac and cheese is that crispy
crusty topping you get when you bake it well don't worry chef Jon's got your
back among other parts because we're gonna finish this with some panko
breadcrumbs that we've cooked in some melted butter until they're golden brown
and crispy and that is gonna very effectively mimic the top of the baked
casserole version so we will sprinkle over a few spoons of that and all will
be right with the world and that's it we'll go ahead and grab a spoon and go
in for a taste and despite all the shortcuts and this only taken about 10
minutes to make that my friends is just as good as any mac and cheese you'll
ever have plus unlike the much harder much more time-consuming baked version
if we happen to want a little extra crunch we can toss on some more crumbs
anytime we want and yes I will admit I thought I invented this when I first
tried it but then it became quickly apparent that like a thousand other
people had thought of this before me but since I didn't know that it still counts
and of course instead of the crumbs or in addition to we could do things like
chopped bacon or sauteed mushrooms for grilled vegetables or whatever else you
want I mean you are after all the Janis
Joplin of your mac and cheese topping and there are not many things that
wouldn't be great on top of this and since the possibilities are pretty much
endless I should probably sign off and let you get started so I'll just finish
by saying I really do hope you give this a try soon then head over to food
whooshes calm for all the ingredient amounts of Morpho as usual and as always
enjoy
you