The 1-Ingredient Improve for the Creamiest Mac and Cheese

I at all times preserve a field of pasta in my pantry and several other sorts of cheeses in my fridge. That implies that once I do not know what to make for dinner, I often find yourself making mac and cheese. After I’m brief on time, it’s former culinary director Kenji’s three-ingredient stovetop mac and cheese, which is easy, satisfying, and takes simply 10 minutes to whip up. However when I’ve the posh of time and need to go all out—whether or not for my family or for a vacation social gathering—I’ll put together a wealthy, creamy baked macaroni and cheese, full with a crispy, buttery breadcrumb topping. Not too long ago, my Birmingham, Alabama-based check kitchen colleague Julia Levy impressed me to strive one thing completely different: an opulent autumnal tackle baked mac with butternut squash blended proper in with the pasta.

Along with baked after which puréed butternut squash, Julia’s recipe requires not one however three completely different sorts of cheese: fontina, extra-sharp cheddar, and Gruyère. Every cheese performs a task—the fontina provides silkiness, the cheddar a beautiful tanginess, and the Gruyère its signature nuttiness—and so they work collectively to enrich the naturally candy and earthy flavors of the butternut squash. Earlier than being baked, the casserole is topped with buttery sage breadcrumbs for a crispy topping that tastes and smells like the vacations.  The consequence? A scrumptious, comforting casserole that my family and friends are already requesting on repeat. And much more nice information: The casserole will be prepped and refrigerated or frozen days (or months) upfront, making it excellent for getting forward on vacation cooking. 

6 Keys to Making the Greatest Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

1. Use ripe butternut squash. For the sweetest taste, attain for a ripe gourd. Sadly, you possibly can’t inform a squash’s ripeness by contact, nevertheless it ought to really feel heavy for its measurement and sound hole when tapped together with your knuckles—and while you minimize into the squash, the flesh needs to be a deep orange shade.
2. For simpler slicing, microwave your squash first. Butternut squash will be giant and unwieldy. To make it simpler to halve, use a fork or sharp paring knife to poke holes throughout—then place the gourd on a big plate and microwave on excessive till simply tender sufficient to chop by way of simply, three to 5 minutes. As soon as it’s cool sufficient to deal with, you possibly can slide your knife proper in to halve the squash.
3. For the creamiest mac and cheese, use a béchamel sauce as your base. As our editorial director Daniel wrote in his béchamel recipe, this luscious French sauce is principally “simply milk that’s been thickened with a roux comprised of roughly equal elements of butter and flour,” with a contact of salt, black pepper, and grated nutmeg stirred in. As fancy because the sauce sounds, it’s quite simple to arrange: Make the roux by whisking flour into melted butter, then slowly and steadily add your milk. Simmer till thickened, season to style, and that’s all there’s to it.
4. Add a contact of mustard. To chop by way of the richness of the cheese and supply a balanced taste, we incorporate a contact of Dijon mustard, which provides the pasta a pleasant sharpness.
5. Go all out on the cheese. We initially began with fontina and extra-sharp cheddar, however felt that the mac and cheese wanted extra oomph. Although we had been anxious that Gruyère would make the casserole barely too funky (if that is actually doable), it gave the pasta a pleasing nuttiness that complemented the squash’s candy and earthy taste, taking it from “nice” to “holy cow, that is superior,” based on one taster. Have a favourite cheese you need to use? Be at liberty to make use of it rather than any of the cheeses—simply be sure that it’s a semidry cheese like Swiss, Comté, or emmentaler. Keep away from moisture-heavy cheeses, equivalent to recent mozzarella or goat cheese, which can end in a waterlogged casserole.
6. High it with a buttery panko combination. Mac and cheese is scrumptious by itself, nevertheless it’s even higher while you garnish it with a topping of herby panko breadcrumbs tossed in butter. Because the casserole bakes, the breadcrumbs turn into golden brown and crisp, giving every chew a satisfying crunch.