Every time we have served this to family or friends, the pan is scraped clean. It doesn’t matter how big the pan is; there are never any leftovers. The trick is not more melted cheese – it’s making it with a creamy mornay sauce (plain old béchamel with cheese added).

• ¼ cup* butter
• ¼ cup flour
• 4 cups milk (if using skim, add 1 more tablespoon butter)
• OR 3 cups milk and 1 cup evaporated milk (this makes a sleeker, silky sauce)
• 3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (Tillamook and Cabot are wonderful; but just get the flavor you like the most)
• 1 tablespoon crumbled blue cheese
• Salt
• Tabasco or similar hot pepper sauce
• 1 pound elbow macaroni or small shaped pasta
• Panko breadcrumbs

At this moment, you are probably wondering why there is blue cheese among the ingredients. Once, Carla made macaroni and cheese for dinner to use up the leftover cheeses from a wine-and-cheese tasting, and there was just a little bit of Stilton left. After a little hesitation, she tossed it in the pot. It gave the mornay sauce the depth and tang that Mom was trying to create with Tabasco sauce; and if you didn’t know it was in there, you would never know it was in there. If you have blue cheese-averse eaters, don’t tell them.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and butter 9×13 baking pan. Cook macaroni in salted water, but for 1-2 minutes less than indicated on package.

While the macaroni is cooking, melt butter in deep saucepan; add flour and stir. Cook one or two minutes until very bubbly. Slowly whisk in milk. When you are sure there are no lumps remaining, stir in cheese.

When cheese is melted, add dash of salt and a few drops of pepper sauce. Drain the cooked macaroni well, and pour into the baking pan. Pour cheese sauce over top, and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle with panko. You can also add more shredded cheese to the top before adding the breadcrumbs, but that’s up to you. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly and edges begin to brown.

This recipe doubles easily; to be honest, I can’t remember the last time we made a single.

*The right way to make a roux is to use equal weights of fat and flour, but Mom’s method of equal measurement works just fine here.