More Mac and Cheese

We've already established my love affair with macaroni and cheese and since I really do have at least six different types bookmarked I pulled one out of the bag to make for a friend's Fourth of July BBQ yesterday. This recipe hails from The Food Network and is Alton Brown's Baked Macaroni and Cheese.

Ingredients
1/2 pound elbow macaroni (about 2 cups uncooked)
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 tbsp powdered mustard
3 cups milk (I used fat free milk)
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf (I opted not to use this)
1/2 tsp paprika
1 large egg
12 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (I used 2%)
1 tsp kosher salt
fresh black pepper
Topping: 3 tbsp butter and 1 cup bread crumbs

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
- 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 if you used, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.
- Temper in the egg*. Stir in 3/4 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.
- 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.


*I had no clue what "temper in the egg" was so after looking it up this was what I found: to gently heat egg yolks before adding to a hot sauce by adding a small bit of the sauce and beating well; this technique prevents curdling. Basically, you beat the egg then add a tbsp of the sauce and continue to beat before adding to the large pot.

This turned out great! The recipe said it yields 6-8 servings, but because it was more of a casserole it was easy to cut it into pieces. I got about 12 out of it, making it 6 pts/serving. And definitely worth it! I received lots of compliments on the dish and even heard the words "Laura is a the bomb cook!" Talk about an ultimate compliment for someone who has just begun to cook! In any case, one more mac and cheese recipe down... only a half dozen more to go!