Everyone loves garlic. Everyone loves cheese. Everyone loves pasta. And while everyone might not love trying to guess the amount of calories in this recipe, there's one thing everyone probably would agree on - it's damn good.
I've always considered myself a mac and cheese connoisseur. If it's offered as a side on a menu, I'm probably ordering it. I don't care if it's "premium" and costs and extra $2.50 or whatever. I want mac and cheese almost as much as I want fried chicken, which is always.
You can tell a lot about a restaurant based on their take on mac and cheese. For me, I'm looking for a gooey cream sauce; "cheese pull" is not what I want in mac and cheese the way I would want it from a grilled cheese or extra cheesy pizza. I love a cheese sauce with smokiness and a slight hint of tang wrapped around al dente pasta, and I'm never mad at a crunchy panko topping... oh, and it's gotta be piping hot. Bonus points if it is served in a mini skillet.
In coming up with my own version, I toyed around with some different options. I spent a good few years using my aunt's recipe, which shamelessly relies on a Velveeta block and an egg binder, and I've tested out many other recipes, such as Aarti Sequeira's Thai Red Curry Mac and Cheese, and the grown up riffs like Molly Baz's Pasta al Limone (both still in our dinner rotation). But it was finally time to make my own. So, what makes my mac and cheese uniquely mine? I tried out a couple different things, such as cajun mac and cheese (delicious, but not really representative of who I am), and I eventually landed on something I inject into as many recipes as I can: garlic.
My wife loves garlic. If a recipe calls for one clove, she adds maybe five or six. I've been known to double the amount of garlic in my family's tomato sauce - a recipe that's gone unchanged for probably 100 or so years. We love garlic, we can't get enough of it. It only made sense to highlight it as a components in my mac and cheese variation. But I couldn't just add garlic - I had to roast it and get the most out of it. Roast for the most!
Friends, Kraft wishes they could make something this tasty. A full bulb's worth of caramelized garlic cloves add a sweet funk to this decadent, slightly tangy cheese sauce that clings to the noodles like they're falling off a cliff. The best part is if you have a large oven-safe skillet, you don't have to worry about the cumbersome transfer of your mac and cheese to a casserole dish (though if you need to do so, I completely understand).
There's much debate about whether or not macaroni and cheese is a side dish or a main course. In truth, it doesn't entirely matter to me what capacity I can eat mac and cheese, as long as I can eat a lot of it. And now that roasted garlic is in the picture, it's going to be hard to look back.
With alliums ahoy,
~c.j.
ROASTED GARLIC MAC AND CHEESE
PREP TIME: 10 mins
ACTIVE COOK TIME: 15-20 mins.
INACTIVE COOK TIME: 40-55 mins.
YIELD: 6-8 servings
INGREDIENTS
1 bulb garlic
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, + more for roasting
1 lb. tubular or cheese friendly pasta, such as elbows, corkscrew, shells, or penne
1/2 c. panko breadcrumbs
1/4 c. (4 tbsp) butter
1/4 c. all purpose flour
2 c. milk
2 c. heavy cream
8 oz. smoked cheddar cheese, grated
8 oz. Monterey jack cheese, grated
4 oz. (half a block) full-fat cream cheese, cubed
kosher salt
cracked black pepper
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400°F. Remove the papery outside of the garlic bulb, but keep the cloves attached to each other. Slice the top of the bulb off, exposing the tops of the cloves. Place the bulb on a square of aluminum foil, and lightly drizzle with olive oil. Wrap the bulb completely in the foil, then place in the oven and roast until cloves sweet, caramelized, softened, and darkened in color, about 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Remove from foil. Squeeze the cloves out of their skins and chop/mash into a paste. Set aside.
Boil a large pot of water and salt heavily. Cook pasta in boiling water about 1-2 minutes less than the package directions. Reserve about a cup of pasta water, then drain the pasta and set aside.
In a small bowl, toss together 2tbsp olive oil and the panko breadcrumbs. Set aside.
In a very large oven-safe skillet or dutch oven over medium heat, melt butter and swirl with a spoon until browned, 5-7 minutes. Add the flour and swirl with a spoon until it comes together like a paste, toasting until the raw flour smell dissipates, about 1 minute, then stir in the reserved roasted garlic paste. Add a small splash of milk and swirl with a spoon to break up the lumps of roux, then add the remaining milk and cream. Once roux has been incorporated into the milk, add the cheddar, Monterey jack, and cream cheese. Stir constantly until fully melted. Season with salt and tons of cracked black pepper. Once fully melted, add the pasta and toss to coat. Add a few splashes of the reserved pasta water to thin out the sauce (the starch in the water will also help it cling better to the pasta). Sprinkle with panko breadcrumbs, then bake for 10-15 minutes, or until breadcrumbs are golden and toasty. Serve immediately.
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