Snobahr's Baked Mac 'n Cheese

SnoBahr's Note:

My family adores this, and it reheats quite nicely. This is *NOT* a low-fat recipe. I use cream when I have it on-hand, or a combination of cream and milk. I use whatever cheese I have on-hand, or I will pick up blocks of cheddar and/or Monterey jack, basically anything that will melt nicely. I avoid using the pre-shredded cheese, because they have a dusting of flour to keep them from clumping in the bag, and throws off the recipe in use. Tool cleanup gets interesting, too. I also use whatever small pasta I have onhand - macaroni, rotini, shells, etc.

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 8

Yield: 2.0 quarts

• 1 ½ cups macaroni
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups milk or 2 cups cream
• 8 ounces cheddar cheese , shredded
• 1⁄8; teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1⁄8; teaspoon salt
• 1⁄8; teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• ¼ cup parmesan cheese , grated

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400°F.
2. Cook macaroni in lightly-salted boiling water until nearly tender.
3. Drain, mix with vegetable oil, return to now-empty pasta pot. Set aside.
4. In a medium saucepan, melt butter, then slowly add flour, stirring vigorously.
5. Slowly add milk, mixing thoroughly, so you don't have glop on the bottom of the pan and hot milk on top. I find a wisk is best for this part.
6. Reduce heat, ditch the wisk, slowly add cheese, and stir slowly and steadily. Congratulations. This is the Custard.
7. Add salt, pepper and cayenne. Stir s'more.
8. Pour custard (cheese mixture) over pasta, and mix thoroughly.
9. Pour glop into lightly greased casserole dish.
10. Sprinkle (cover) top of glop with grated parmesan.
11. Place in center of oven, and bake for 30-35 minutes.
12. Remove from oven, let sit for at least 10 minutes to allow the cheese custard to set.