The Pioneer Woman Cooks - Macaroni and Cheese

Hi , I'm Re Drummond , also known as the Pioneer Woman .

And I'm gonna make one of my favorite recipes of all time .

I'm making macaroni and cheese .

I always say I probably wouldn't have grown as a child if macaroni and cheese didn't exist because it's pretty much all I ate for the first decade of my life .

So I'm starting by buttering the dish and you can buy the stuff in the little blue box at the grocery store .

But if you can make macaroni and cheese from scratch , you can pretty much do anything .

Now , the roux is just butter which we melt in a Dutch oven to the melted butter .

I'll just Sprinkle in some flour .

Let this cook for just a couple of minutes .

And then when it's bubbling , I'll add in some whole milk .

So , what this roux will do is thicken the milk and it'll make this yummy bubbly white sauce and we'll let this cook for a couple of minutes , three or four .

If it's not getting thick .

And when it's bubbling , I'm gonna add in some dry mustard and that gives the macaroni and cheese just a nice little .

Ok .

This is getting nice and bubbly .

Now I'll add a little salt and some pepper .

Now , this is an optional step .

But to add a little richness to the macaroni , I like to add a big egg .

But if you add an egg right into the hot ro , it could scramble the egg , which would add for an interesting texture .

So I feed an egg in a bowl and then I grab a little bit of the hot roe and soon it in while I whisk it with a fork and this will temper the eggs and get them warm enough .

So that when you add them back into the roo , it won't cook the eggs .

This just adds a nice little extra richness to the macaroni that really puts it over the top .

And when it's really , really hot , I'm gonna add shredded cheddar cheese .

Now I shredded this myself and I found that if you use the pre grated shredded cheese from the grocery store , it's coated in a little bit of a corn starch substance and it can make for a grainy macaroni and cheese .

So I always grate my own cheese for macaroni , just dump it on in .

And this is where it starts to get good .

This is where my kids come in and say when's dinner ready .

And this is where I send them outside and tell them not to come back for at least 30 more minutes .

I'm just being honest here .

Ok , we'll let this melt and when the cheese is melted , I'm gonna add a little seasoning and you can do whatever you want .

I like a little spice in my macaroni and cheese .

So I'm adding a little cayenne , a little paprika and some thyme , which just adds again a little .

Um , but you can add some fresh herbs , you can add chopped parsley , just whatever floats your boat .

Ok .

This is looking totally delicious .

So I'm going to taste the sauce because you really don't want to under salt it .

You're going to pour the macaroni in here in a second .

It needs to really have enough seasoning for the whole thing .

So I don't mind taking one for the team and tasting the sauce .

Oh my , I need a straw .

It's really great .

So we've got hot drained macaroni .

I'm just gonna pour it right in .

The kids are hungry .

The oven's hot .

The macaroni and cheese is ready .

I'm gonna pour it into this buttered pan .

Boy , it takes Mussels to lift up one of these .

There's a lot of cheese in here .

Oh , yum , I might leave a little in there and then I can taste test it for quality control while the rest is in the oven .

OK ?

We'll just smooth out the top .

Oh my gosh .

That looks so yummy macaroni and cheese is my life .

There's no getting around it .

I'm just gonna top it with some grated cheese .

You can top it with bread crumbs .

Toast them a little in the skillet and that gives it a nice crunch on top .

But I didn't want to add any more time to this than I had to .

The kids are starving .

Now , we'll put it in the oven and bake it for about 15 or 20 minutes till it's bubbly and that's it .

Ok .

It's ready and this looks exceptionally good .

Of course , I say that every time I pull macaroni and cheese out of the oven , I love it every bit as much now as I did when I was eight and I think just to be on the safe side , I better give it a taste .

I wouldn't want to feed my kids anything that was substandard .

Of course .

Perfect .