Macaroni and Cheese

When I'm in the mood for ultimate comfort food, I reach for my mom's recipe for macaroni and cheese. It's incredibly simple, but it hits the spot for me every time. While I've never met a mac and cheese that I didn't like, I prefer baked and with plenty of sharp cheddar cheese. 

For this mac and cheese, you'll first need to partially cook about 8 ounces of macaroni and then let it cool. While the macaroni is cooling, melt a tablespoon or two of butter in the microwave. While I forgot to picture it below, an egg is a crucial ingredient- at this point, beat an egg into the melted butter. After this, you need around 2 cups of milk. This isn't exact, but you need enough to make a custard for the mac and cheese. At this point, I season the liquid mixture with some salt and fresh black pepper. I also like to add in a pretty good dash of cayenne pepper, but that's totally optional. Once the pasta has cooled off a bit, mix it with the liquid mixture and add some shredded cheese. For 8 ounces of pasta, I use an 8 ounce bag of cheese. Next, put the whole thing in a covered casserole dish and bake. I'd strongly recommend putting the dish on a rimmed baking sheet in the oven, since this has a tendency to bubble over and make a bit of a mess. 

After about 45 minutes, I like to take the lid off of the casserole dish and bake for about another 15 minutes so that the top gets a little crunchy. Bake the macaroni and cheese until the liquid mixture has set- generally an hour does it. After that, dig in and enjoy!