Truffle Macaroni and Cheese

I am not, and never was, a Kraft Dinner macaroni and cheese kind-of-girl (my sister was). Actually growing up, I didn't even really eat that much cheese. These days though, homemade macaroni and cheese seems much more appealing. I liked the idea of making the dish fancier, so I splurged on a bottle of truffle oil!



Truffle Macaroni and Cheese - Serves 2
Adapted from Lynn Crawford.
Since I made this for Valentine's Day, I will share the portions for 2. The recipe called for truffle paste but I could not be bothered to look for it. I added panko crumbs for a crunchy crust.

* 3 tbsp unsalted butter + extra for greasing the dish
* 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
* 2 cups milk
* 1 tsp dry mustard
* ½ lb elbow macaroni
* 2 cups cheese (I used extra-sharp Cheddar, Swiss and Gruyère)
* 2 tbsp truffle oil
* handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
* handful of panko crumbs

Butter a small baking dish.
In a small pot, warm up the milk at low heat.
In another pot, melt butter over moderately low heat.
Add flour and cook roux, whisking, 3 minutes.
Add the warm milk whisking and bring to a boil.
Add mustard, salt and pepper to taste and simmer sauce until thickened, about 2 minutes.
In a pot of salted boiling water, cook macaroni until just al dente, about 7 minutes, and drain well.
In a large bowl, mix together macaroni, sauce, grated cheese, 1 cup Parmesan and truffle oil and transfer to prepared dish.
Sprinkle with Parmesan and panko crumbs evenly over macaroni.
Bake macaroni in middle of oven 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.
Tada!


Cheese mixture. The sauce looked runny but thickened up quite a bit.


Pool of truffle oil.


My splurge: truffle oil!

I really enjoyed this recipe and it was easy to make. I only added one tablespoon of truffle oil because I was worried it would be too strong. I would definitely add two next time. I had extra cheese sauce which was perfect to add on top. You can't have too much cheese, can you?


Nothing more comforting than gooey mac and cheese!