Baked Macaroni and Cheese

I was hungry last night, but didn't have anything planned for dinner, but I thought that we had the ingredients to this wonderful dish, and we did! I love making macaroni and cheese at home, because I tend to always have the ingredients on hand. I usually make my own stove top mac and cheese, but decided I had some time to whip up the baked version. It was delicious, and there are leftovers I'm thinking about pan frying! Yummy! I cut the dish down to 2 servings, but you can always make more and fit them in a larger casserole dish.

Here's the recipe adapted from Alton Brown.


Prep Time: 20 min | Cooking Time: 45 min | Difficulty: Easy | Serves: 2


Ingredients: Use your best guess for these measurements, closest you can get. Some are a weird amount
2.7 ounces Elbow Macaroni
1 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Flour
1 tsp Powdered Mustard
1 cup Milk
2 ⅔ Tbsp Yellow Onion, finely diced
⅓ Bay Leaf
.167 tsp Paprika
⅓ large Egg
4 ounces Sharp Cheddar, shredded
⅓ tsp Kosher Salt
Fresh Black Pepper
Topping:
1 Tbsp Butter
⅓ cup Panko Bread Crumbs


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.


2. In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.


3. While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.


4. Temper in the egg. Stir in ¾ of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.


5. Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.