Mac & Cheese

My recipe for macaroni and cheese is adapted from Martha Stewart's. Her recipe calls for a full pound of macaroni and feeds 12. Mine halves it and adds in ham and broccoli. Either way..it's delicious. It also uses a ton of pans, so clean what you can as you go or have a VERY understanding spouse to help with clean-up.

Ingredients

4 tbs butter

3 slices white bread

2 1/4 cups 2% milk

1/4 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 1/4 cups grated sharp white cheddar cheese

1 cup grated smoked gouda

1/2 pound macaroni

1 1/2 cups diced ham

1 1/2 cups broccoli florets

Prep

Pre-heat oven to 375 and grease a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish with PAM or butter. Rip the bread up into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces and put in bowl. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and pour over the bread, tossing to coat. Let the bread sit.

I use the Kahn's L'il Ham. It's usually in the meat section on a shelf above near the kielbasa. It's a very small ham and I'll slice off about 3 half-inch slices and cube that into 1/2 inch pieces. I forgot to weigh or measure it the last time I made this, but it works out to be about enough to hold in your two hands together. It all depends on how much ham you like in your mac & cheese.

The same goes for the broccoli. I use a good size crown and get bite-sized florets equal to the volume of the cubed ham.

Cook the macaroni for about 1-2 minutes LESS than the directions say. Drain, rinse, and set aside to drain more.

In a saucepan, heat the milk. In a large skillet (with high sides) melt 4 tabs butter. When it bubbles, add the flour and cook while stirring for 1 minute. Slowly pour the hot milk into the skillet while whisking. Keep whisking until milk bubbles and thickens.

Remove the pan from the heat. Add the salt, pepper, nutmeg. Add 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese and 3/4 cup gouda. Stir until all is melted.

Stir the macaroni into the cheese sauce. Add the ham and broccoli. Turn out the whole mixture into the casserole dish. Top with the remaining cheddar and gouda. Top that with the croutons that have been soaking up the melted butter.

Bake at 375 until brown on top - about a half hour.