Those who know me know that I love Chrissy Teigen, I want to be her friend and I would die if one day I shared a meal with her. The second that her first cookbook, Cravings, came out two years ago I had it delivered to my house, carried it oh-so-gently to the grocery store and then took it back home to get cooking. My favourite dinner recipe has got to be her mac and cheese. Over the last little while I have tweaked the recipe to make it my own but her basics are still there. I hope Chrissy would approve… I mean, she did like my photos on Twitter. Here’s my take on her most delicious mac & cheese that feeds 12-15 people (or eight, if my husband’s best friend is over for dinner):
Bread Crumb Ingredients: 1 cup Panko bread crumbs 3 cloves garlic, halved
Pasta Ingredients: 1.5 pounds uncooked macaroni ½ cup unsalted butter 5 tbs flour 2 tsp salt 1 tsp black pepper ¼ tsp cayenne pepper 3 cups 2% milk 2 cups 3.5% milk 2 cups old cheddar cheese 100 g swiss cheese 150 g havarti cheese 10 slices American cheese (I use Kraft) ¼ tsp mustard ½ deseeded jalapeno, diced or sliced 6 slices cooked bacon, diced
Directions:
On medium heat in a small saucepan, slightly brown Panko bread crumbs and garlic over the stove, about 8-10 minutes. Take it off of the heat and allow it to cool. Remove the garlic (you can save it for another recipe) and set aside until you need it at the end of this dish.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Begin by buttering a 9x13 casserole dish and an 8x8 dish. I usually make two because one has jalapenos for the adults and the other is without, for the kids. Boil pasta for 8 minutes then drain. In a separate stockpot melt butter on medium heat until it turns golden but doesn’t brown.
Whisk in flour and spices, brown 2-3 minutes. Add both milks and turn the heat to low. Milk burns and overflows SO QUICKLY. Keep an eye on it. Reserve one cup of the cheese mix. Stir in the rest of your cheeses until melted. Add your pasta and give it a good mix with your spoon.
I then distribute the giant pot of pasta into the two buttered dishes. From here you can mix in jalapenos (or omit them if you don’t like the spiciness) and/or bacon.
Sprinkle the tops with the reserved cheese & bread crumbs then pop those dishes into the oven. Remove after eight minutes and serve immediately. Hopefully you like it as much as Chrissy liked my tweets... and yes, I almost died,
