Our Favorite Ina Garten Mac and Cheese Recipe Videos _ Barefoot Contessa _ Food Network

I'm making truffled mac and cheese .

So I'm starting with mushrooms .

I've sliced mini and Chiaki mushrooms and I'm just sauteing them in butter and olive oil just until they're tender which they are .

It's perfect .

We're gonna add a little bit of cream .

Cherry .

The sweetness is really good with them .

There's something about cherry and mushrooms that are really good together .

You'll get infused into the mushrooms , but it's also gonna deglaze the pan .

So you get all the flavor into the truffle mac and cheese .

That's the sauce .

So I'm starting with truffle butter .

It's a three ounce pot .

I buy several of them .

I keep them in the freezer and it's amazingly not that expensive .

I use white truffle butter because I really like the flavor .

I'll add half a cup of all purpose flour whisk it constantly for two minutes , pour in four cups of scalded , whole milk and cook the sauce , stirring constantly with a wooden spoon for two minutes .

Ok ?

The white sauce is done .

Look how nice and creamy .

It is just fabulous .

So now I'm gonna have lots of cheese .

So I've got four cups of grier .

It's kind of got a really nutty flavor and three cups of grated , extra sharp cheddar and then lots of seasonings .

Classic grattan seasoning is nutmeg .

I really like it with mac and cheese .

So just a sprinkling of nutmeg and then lots of salt and pepper just gonna stir this in .

Oh , it smells good .

It looks good .

This is like classic comfort food .

All dressed up for a party .

Ok .

I think the pasta is ready .

So I'm gonna just drain it .

I'm just gonna put it right in the bowl .

Lots of pasta .

OK ?

Now I'm just gonna put the sauce into the pasta and I wanna do it while it's still hot .

You can really smell the nutmeg .

It's a little subtle but it really makes a difference and then stir all this in .

I have a big bowl of pasta .

This is really fit for a birthday party and then I'm gonna add probably two thirds of the mushrooms that I cooked .

I'll save some for the top .

So the mini mushrooms , the aroma is gonna be all the way through the house .

Ok ?

That's nicely mixed .

Now I'm just gonna put it in a baking dish .

It's a great oven to table dish .

OK ?

Just put it right in the dish .

So nice .

You can really make this like early in the day or even the day before and just throw it in the oven before dinner and just because I can't leave well enough alone , I've made herb bread crumbs to put on top and it gives a nice , really crunchy topping and lots of flavor .

Ok .

One more thing .

Just so everybody knows there are mushrooms in this and truffles .

I'm just gonna do some mushrooms right down the middle of the dish into the oven .

375 degrees for 40 minutes .

And this is gonna be amazing .

Mm .

And that's truffle .

Mac and cheese .

Who knew ?

Mac and cheese could be so elegant .

That's , that's a little taste .

Mm .

That's the best mac and cheese I've ever made when it comes to comfort food .

I'd say mac and cheese is pretty high on everybody's list .

So for dinner tomorrow night , I thought I'd make a grown up mac and cheese with bacon and blue cheese .

Ok .

So I need 1.5 cups of milk and I'm gonna heat it up and then another pot , two tablespoons of butter turn on the heat , two tablespoons of flour .

So I'm just gonna cook these together for about two minutes .

You don't want the butter to burn .

Let's whisk them together .

So this cooked butter and flour is gonna act as a thickener for the sauce .

Now I'm gonna add the hot milk to it and it's gonna thicken it .

Ok .

I'm just gonna cook that over low heat until it just gets a little thicker .

Ok .

Let's see how this is doing .

Oh , the white sauce is just perfect .

Now it's thickened it's not incredibly thick , but what it does is just coat the spoon .

So now off the heat , I'm gonna add all the cheeses .

So half a cup of grier third of a cup of cheddar and about two ounces of Rockford , you can really use any kind of blue cheese .

But Rockford has a particularly wonderful flavor and a little bit of nutmeg .

It's a really classic spice that's used in towns .

You sort of won't know what's there , but it'll make everything else taste better .

Give it a stir .

So the cheese is all melt in and that's a much better way to do baking .

So it's not splattering all over the place .

Just chop it up , just put it right in .

OK .

Time to dry in the pasta .

So I'm just gonna put this right back into the sauce to stir it around .

This is so easy to make in a large quantity .

But since it's just Jeffrey and me , I'm sma it for two .

And the best thing is I can make it today and bake it off tomorrow and then I can spend tomorrow with Jeffrey instead of cooking .

Ok , a little bit of a topping .

So it's sort of crunchy on the top .

So take , just take two pieces of white bread , cut off the crust and just chop them up , put them in the bowl of a food processor with a steel blade and just a little bit of fresh basil .

A couple of leaves .

Let's put it right in the food processor with bread .

I just crumbs .

Ok .

Ok .

I'm just right on top of the mac and cheese .

So it's creamy on the bottom and crunchy on the top .

Ok .

Into the fridge .

I'm gonna bake it tomorrow night for a cozy and comforting dinner for Jeffrey and me .

So I'm gonna make lobster mac and cheese and it starts with a sauce .

The French call it a roux , which sounds really fancy .

It's not start with butter , six tablespoons of butter and I'm just gonna melt that .

And then later I'm gonna add some flour for thickener .

Ok ?

The next thing is heating up a quart of milk and what this does is thicken the sauce .

When I add the cheese in the past it , it gives a nice thick mac and cheese .

Classic mac and cheese .

And then I'm gonna mix into the butter , half a cup of flour .

And the thing about making a ro or white sauce is you want the flour to cook for a minute or two ?

So it doesn't have that sort of raw flour taste .

Ok .

Milk looks like it's hot just under simmering , just gonna pour it in .

And now I'm gonna stir it until it gets nice and thick .

So this is white sauce .

That's it .

It's just thickened milk and it's gonna make fantastic mac and cheese .

Ok ?

I'm gonna turn the heat off next to the cheese .

That's the good part .

So that's about two cups of grated cheddar and I'm gonna do four cups of grated grier .

Just cut it .

So it fits in the feed tube just like that .

Ok .

Into the pan with lots of flavorings .

I think it's gonna go so well with lobster , that's a lot of cheese .

It makes eight servings .

One tablespoon of salt .

I use Kosher salt , one teaspoon of pepper .

Give it a little heat and half a teaspoon of nutmeg .

Sort of a classic French seasoning .

Just brings out the nuttiness of the cheeses .

Stir that together .

Mm .

This is gonna be really good mac and cheese .

OK .

Next , I need some pasta .

Once it's strained , it goes right back into the sauce and cheese .

Yeah .

OK .

This looks delicious .

All the pasta and the cheese and , and wait till I put lobster and it's gonna get even better .

OK ?

I'm gonna cut up £1.5 of lobster .

So I'm gonna leave some of the big pieces whole and then the really big ones .

I'm gonna chop up .

OK .

All this is just gonna go right into the pot .

This may be one of my favorite dishes of all time .

Mm .

So big stir .

OK .

Now I'm gonna get the topping ready first .

I need some melted butter , two tablespoons of melted butter and 1.5 cups of bread crumbs .

So these are bread crumbs that it's really fresh bread that I just ground up in the food processor and what this is gonna do is when it's in the oven , it's gonna get brown and crusty .

So I'm just gonna Sprinkle this right on top into the oven .

375 degrees for 30 minutes .

And they're gonna be bubbly and crusty on the top .

It's gonna be so good .

Mhm .

Lobster .

Mac and cheese .

Now , I don't know anybody that wouldn't want that for dinner .

Wow , it smells fantastic .

First thing I'm gonna make is mac and cheese , which is traditional mac and cheese with the volume turned up .

So to make real mac and cheese , as opposed to the stuff in the box .

First thing I want to do is make a Basa Ma sauce , which is really a fancy word for white sauce .

So I'm gonna heat one quart of milk and then in another pan , I'm gonna melt six tablespoons of butter and add half a cup of flour and cook them together for about two minutes while I'm whisking it .

You don't want the butter to burn .

This is the kind of sauce you use in a grain , which sounds fancy in French , but it's perfect for mac and cheese .

Ok .

Now I just wanna slowly add the hot milk and you'll see the whole thing becomes a really nice , thick white sauce at it .

So I think you can just , oh , that task .

Yeah .

How about forget slowly , just dump it all in .

Ok .

There that's fast .

And now off the heat just gonna add some flavorings , tablespoon of salt .

It seems like a lot .

But remember we're putting a lot of pasta in this half a teaspoon of pepper and half a teaspoon of nutmeg , which is sort of a classic seasoning I thought would be really good with mac and cheese .

Just whisk it together .

I actually think nutmeg brings out the flavor and the cheese which brings it to the next thing , cheese , lots of good cheese .

So the first thing I'm gonna do is put in 12 ounces of good Swiss Grier .

It's a really nutty cheese and it's just wonderful in mac and cheese .

OK ?

A little piece left over for the cook .

The second cheese I use is cheddar and I'm gonna use eight ounces of good cheddar .

That would have taken a lot of time if I had done it by hand , lots of cheese .

OK ?

Then I'm gonna put the cheese into the sauce , a lot of cheese in that sauce .

But that's why it tastes so good .

OK ?

Just stir it in .

So I'm gonna combine this now with macaroni , which I cooked .

Put that in the bowl , add the sauce .

It's got a pound of macaroni or toffee , OK ?

Mix that all together .

But this looks like enough for crowd in my experience .

Everybody loves it .

So they eat a lot .

So I'm gonna pour this into a dish and I'm gonna do sliced tomatoes .

And bread crumbs on the top is a nice little crunch and delicious flavor with the .

So it really is macaroni and cheese but for a party OK , into the dish and how bad could that be ?

So , just right on top .

Really simple .

OK .

Right on top of the tomatoes and the mac and cheese .

I'm gonna bake it at 3 75 for 30 minutes and it's gonna be bubbly and delicious .

It's mac and cheese but better .