creamy baked macaroni and cheese

(adapted by Eric Kim)

Ingredients:

½ pound cavatappi or elbow macaroni

¼ cup unsalted butter

¼ cup all-purpose flour

3 cups whole milk

½ pound sharp or extra-sharp yellow Cheddar, coarsely grated (about 2 1/2 cups)

4 ounces Velveeta, torn into pieces

2 ounces grated Pecorino Romano (about ½ cup)

¼ teaspoon dry mustard powder

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

Pinch of ground cayenne

Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and season generously with salt. Add one half pound pasta and cook according to package instructions, stirring occasionally until just past al dente. Drain and set aside.
Return the empty pot to the stove over medium heat. Melt one-quarter cup butter and simmer, whisking occasionally. Add one-quarter cup flour and cook, whisking, until smooth, about 1 minute.
Whisk in three cups milk. Raise the heat to high and bring to a simmer, whisking constantly, then immediately reduce the heat to low and continue simmering until the sauce lightly coats the back of a spoon, 2 to 5 minutes. The sauce should be smooth and relatively loose. Remove the pot from the heat.

Whisk in a quarter teaspoon mustard powder, one eighth teaspoon onion powder, a pinch of cayenne, a big pinch of kosher salt and several grinds of black pepper. Whisk in one half pound of grated cheddar, four ounces of torn Velveeta, and two ounces of grated Pecorino Romano cheese until melted and smooth.  

Add the drained pasta, stir until the pasta is evenly coated in the cheese sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
Transfer to an 8”x 8” baking pan or 6-8 cup dish. At this point the pasta can either be baked immediately, covered and reirrigated for a day, or sealed and frozen for up to three months.

Bake the room-temperature pasta (see the note below) in a preheated 350-degree oven until bubbling at the edges and brown on top, 20 to 30 minutes.

Serves 4

Note- the refrigerated pasta can be brought to room temp by letting it sit on the counter for an hour or by warming in a microwave on 50% at 30-seconds intervals. From frozen, let thaw in the refrigerator overnight then bring to rom temperature as directed above.