Amanda's Mac & Cheese

So Amanda got this recipe from some guy named Alton Brown. He, apparently, is on the Food Network. She sent this to me months ago, but this is the first time I've made it. This is the recipe as she sent it to me. I will hold my comments til the end. Like maybe you wish I always would, ha ha.

Amanda's Mac & Cheese
1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 tbsp powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp paprika
1 egg
12 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tsp kosher salt
fresh black pepper
3 tbsp butter
1 cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350. In a large pot of boiling salted water cook the pasta to al dente. While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt 3 tbsp butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about 5 minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for 10 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 the oven and rest 5 minutes before serving.

Okay couple things. Panko bread crumbs are different than regular bread crumbs in that they do not get soggy. So they taste really good on top of this. Amanda and I both got our panko bread crumbs at the Natural Living Center, but you might be able to get them at Shaw's, or maybe Hannaford. I am reasonably sure Wal-mart won't have them. Also do you know how to temper an egg? Well I didn't. Well, actually, I did know the technique but didn't know it was called that. So you don't crack the egg right into the mix, because the egg starts to cook right away and you have little bits of scrambled eggs in your mac & cheese. That's what happened to me. What you have to do is crack the egg into a separate bowl, put a bit of the hot mixture into the bowl, mix it all around, then add it all back to the pot. That's what I'll do next time. I have done that with dessert recipes before but never with regular food.

Emma was gone, but Steve and Sam really liked this. Sam gave it 2 thumbs up, and said if he had 4 thumbs, he would put them all up. Steve really liked it. Nathan did not, at all. I think he didn't like the look of the still-crisp bread crumbs, and his tastes tend more toward the blue box mac & cheese anyway. Nathan's comment: "This is NOT delicious." I wasn't sad because I know it is just his immature taste buds talking. Definitely keeping the recipe, it will be my new mac & cheese recipe. Mad props to Amanda for forwarding it to me!!