elbows (macaroni, not human elbows) - ~12 oz box
Sharp Cheddar Cheese - 1 big chunk
1/4 flour
1 stick of butter
a little bit of milk
Bread crumbs
and extra slice or two of some kind of cheese. I recommend a cheesy kind
What you're gonna do:
1. Put a pan of water on to boil, big enough to cook your macaroni. Throw a dash of salt in there
2. Do you have a cast iron skillet?
3. Just use whatever skillet you have**
IV. melt 1/4 pound of butter (that's one stick, Ace) in your (cast iron) skillet (low to mediumish heat)
E. You water should be about boiling by now. When it does, throw in the pasta. Stir it a bit so it doesn't stick
5. Tell your Amazon Echo to set a timer for 7 minutes. (if you don't have an Echo, count to 420)
f. add 1/4 cup of flour to the melted butter. We're making a roux here, so stir that thing up
z. let the roux brown while you grate up that sharp cheddar cheese
iii. Did your timer go off? Whenever that happens, make sure you drain the macaroni and rinse it in cold water so it stops cooking.
^.+ Add the shredded cheese to your roux. Stir it in until the cheese is good an melted; It might not look so great at this point
[0-9]+$ add some milk, turn the heat under your skillet up to medium. Stir your cheesy roux while the milk heats up until you get an awesome creamy consistency.
You may have to add some more milk. Better to have to add more milk later than to add too much too soon.
Qwerty. Does your Cheesiness look like this?
99. Good, Turn the skillet off.
(Luft Balloons). Dump your noodles into your favorite baking dish. Season it up a bit... I like a little Italian seasoning. You could do a little thyme. Or maybe just some salt
and pepper if that's your thing, Squidward (because Squidward is boring)
(\w). Mix in your cheese. Sprinkle a thing layer of bread crumbs on top.
Slice up your remaining sharp cheddar and put it on top, then sprinkle some more bread crumbs
$> Cover up your pan and stick it in the oven at 325F. Count to 1200.
@ Take off the lid and crank the oven to 375F or so for 5 minutes
@@ Take it out, and scoop out a hearty helping. That's going to go pretty good with the chicken you had braising all afternoon
)) Once your baking dish has cooled down enough, stick it in the fridge overnight.
Clean up after yourself. Seriously! How old are you? You need an excuse to run the dishwasher anyway. Dishwasher gets lonely after so many nights of take out.
2a. When you get home from work, mow the lawn. It's looking like a friggin' jungle out there, man.
2b. Take your Baked Mac N Cheese out of the fridge. There really should be more left, but you kept going back for more while it was hot last night, didn't you? That's ok, you're only making sandwhiches for one, piggie.
2c. It should be solid enough to slice with a knife. Cut some slices about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick
2d. Slice up some jalapenos. It's really personal preference, but I'd recommend not getting jalapeno juice in your eyes.
2e. Sautee up those jalopies just a little bit. I'm talking like 15 seconds to a side, so they're still pretty firm
2f. Butter a couple slices of your favorite bread. (Seriously. Don't you know how to make a grilled cheese?)
0g. spread out your cold macaroni and cheese slices to cover the bread.
2g. arrange some jalapeno slices on top of the mac and cheese
4g. Put a slice of cheese over the top for extra cheesiness. Provolone, Havarti... whatever. You have cheese, right?
LTE. arrange the other slice of bread so that it is aligned parallel to the bottom slice of bread.
**WARNING** If you try to arrange the top slice of bread before the bottom slice, you will have problems (because gravity)
6. Throw that 'sandwhich' onto a hot griddle or Cast Iron** skillet and cook the bottom. Flip it over and cook the top, which will then be the bottom
8. Tell your Amazon Echo to play something soulfull and melancholy
10. Enjoy your sandwhich. if it's so good that it makes you cry, blame it on the music from step 7
12. If the sandwhich isn't so good it makes you cry, you made a mistake. Read more carefully and try again. Very likely, you don't own a cast iron skillet
**Go out and get a cast iron skillet. You'll thank me later
