My granddaughter, Mattie, is somewhat “finiky” when it comes to food.  So, when I got a thumbs up from her on this recipe I decided to name it after her.  Her sister, Baylee, also gave a thumbs up on this one.  How can you go wrong with two thumbs up?

Yes, this is a little more trouble than mac and cheese in a box, but how often have you made mac and cheese that has been called “gourment quality”?  Wow!

The base sauce for this dish is a bechemel (one of the “mother” sauces) and adds so much to this dish.  Don’t panic if the flour mixture appears to “lump”.  As you add the water and milk, you can work the lumps out, easily, by whisking.

 In this recipe I used cooked ham, but I can’t wait to try it with shrimp (since I love seafoood).  If you try the shrimp version before I do, I would recommend using raw shrimp since this dish bakes for twenty mintues and is plenty of time to cook the shrimp.

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Mattie’s Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

1 tsp salt

1/2 Lb elbow or ziti pasta

1/4 cup half and half

2 cups coarsely grated gruyere cheese (about 8 ounces)

1 cup grated parmesan cheese (about 5 ounces)

2 large eggs

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the casserole dish

1 clove garlic, minced

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp (or a pinch) of cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Kosher salt

3/4 cup water

1-1/2 cups milk

8 oz of cooked ham, diced into 1/4 inch pieces

Method:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

1)     Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

2)     Add the salt.

3)     Add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 6 minutes (should be undercooked since it will finish cooking in the oven)

4)     Drain the pasta, add the half and half, toss, and set aside.

5)     In a medium bowl, combine the grated gruyere and parmesan cheeses.

6)     In a large bowl, beat 1/4 cup of milk and the eggs.

7)     Add half of the cheese, mix well, and set aside.

8)     In a large saucepan, over medium heat, melt the butter (be careful not to let it burn).

9)     Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until just browned, about 1 minute.

10)   Add the flour, cayenne, nutmeg and 1 tsp Kosher salt (these four ingredients can be combined ahead of time to make this process easier).

11)   Cook, whisking, for about 2 minutes.

12)   While whisking, slowly add 3/4 cup water and 1 1/2 cups milk.

13)   Bring to a boil and continue whisking until thickened.

14)   Remove from the heat and whisk until slightly cooled (1 – 2 minutes)

15)   Add the remaining half of the cheese and whisk until smooth and combined.

16)   Add the pasta and toss to coat.

17)   In a generously buttered 9 x 13 casserole dish. Add half of the pasta mixture and top with half of the ham

18)   Add the remaining pasta mixture and top with the remaining ham

19)   Pour the reserved cheese mixture over the top and spread, evenly.

20)   Bake until golden, about 20 minutes.

21)   Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Yield: 8 servings