hello this is chef john from food wishes
comm with instant mac and cheese that's
right we're gonna do a no boil no bake
one pan mac and cheese that could be
made just as fast as this stuff from the
box not to mention it's gonna taste way
better since we're gonna use real cheese
and the ones we want and i know that all
sounds too good to be true
but it is and what follows is video
proof so with that let's go ahead and
get started
by bringing some cold fresh milk up to a
simmer on medium heat and while we're
waiting for that we can go ahead and
toss in some kosher salt a little shake
of cayenne and a very very tiny pinch of
freshly grated nutmeg alright just a
hint in fact if you're gonna put too
much don't put any and then we'll also
go ahead and sneak in about a tablespoon
of butter and then what we're gonna do
once this comes up to a simmer is
believe it or not stir our dry elbow
macaroni directly into this milk so yes
we're gonna completely skip the boil the
pasta step and we're simply gonna cook
it in what will eventually be our cheese
sauce and one big tip here do not under
cook your pasta
alright so due to the full time it says
in the package and we don't have to stir
this constantly but we do want to stir
it often so at least every couple
minutes and of course while that's
cooking in between strains we can go
ahead and grade our cheese and this time
i went with two kinds of cheddar an
extra sharp orange and a medium white
and the reason I'm going with this
combination besides I love the taste I
think that's going to produce the most
attractive color but anyway once our
cheeses that we'll go back and check our
pasta and this is what mine look like
after cooking in that milk for eight
minutes and then what we'll do once our
pastas cooked is reduce our heat to the
lowest setting and then we will jump our
cheese all in at once and we will give
it a stir until it just melts which is
only gonna take a few seconds at which
point we're gonna turn off the heat and
quickly cover this and then let it sit
undisturbed for exactly three minutes
and during that brief time something
sort of magical happens which you are
just about to see okay so after letting
it rest for three minutes we'll go ahead
and pull off the lid and we will give
that a stir and as you can see our sauce
has thickened up beautifully
and those holes in our elbow macaroni
have sucked it in through I believe
capillary action but don't quote me on
that I only have a two-year degree but
anyway we'll go ahead and give that a
stir as well as taste it for seasoning
it might need is just a little touch of
salt so I want to hand stirred some in
and give it one last taste and that's it
once we think that's tasting good we'll
go ahead and serve that up immediately
into a warm bowl since the professional
never puts hot food in a cold bowl and
if everything's gone according to plan
you should be looking at one of the
creamiest most gorgeous mac and cheese
you've ever seen and by the way if
you're thinking that looks fine and I'm
sure it tastes amazing but my favorite
part of mac and cheese is that crispy
crusty topping you get when you bake it
well don't worry chef Jon's got your
back among other parts because we're
gonna finish this with some panko
breadcrumbs that we've cooked in some
melted butter until they're golden brown
and crispy and that is gonna very
effectively mimic the top of the baked
casserole version so we will sprinkle
over a few spoons of that and all will
be right with the world and that's it
we'll go ahead and grab a spoon and go
in for a taste and despite all the
shortcuts and this only taken about 10
minutes to make that my friends is just
as good as any mac and cheese you'll
ever have plus unlike the much harder
much more time-consuming baked version
if we happen to want a little extra
crunch we can toss on some more crumbs
anytime we want and yes I will admit I
thought I invented this when I first
tried it but then it became quickly
apparent that like a thousand other
people had thought of this before me but
since I didn't know that it still counts
and of course instead of the crumbs or
in addition to we could do things like
chopped bacon or sauteed mushrooms for
grilled vegetables or whatever else you
want
I mean you are after all the Janis
Joplin of your mac and cheese topping
and there are not many things that
wouldn't be great on top of this and
since the possibilities are pretty much
endless I should probably sign off and
let you get started so I'll just finish
by saying I really do hope you give this
a try soon then head over to food
whooshes calm for all the ingredient
amounts of Morpho as usual and as always
enjoy
you
