Homemade Mac-N-Cheese

I love homemade mac-n-cheese.  Who doesn't?  I've tried several different recipes in the past, but this one wins.  By far.  It's creamy and thick.  It's nice and gooey.  It's a little crunchy on top.  And, it has a little kick.  Perfect!  I made this for a family dinner and between 5 adults and one 1 yr old, we ate about 3/4 of the pan.  It's that good.

For this recipe, I checked out a whole bunch of different recipes and then I came up with my own. 

Here's what I used:

6 Slices of White Bread, without the crusts
1 Stick of unsalted Butter
5 1/2 Cups Milk
1/2 Cup Flour
1 1/2 Tsp Dry Mustard
1/4 Tsp Nutmeg
2 Tsp Kosher Salt
1/4 Tsp Black Pepper
1/4 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
4 1/2 Cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese, finely grated
1 1/3 Cups Parmesan Cheese, finely grated
1 1/4 Cups Pecorino Romano, finely grated
1 Lb. Macaroni Noodles

Here's what I did:

First I preheated the oven to 375 degrees.  Then I buttered a casserole dish.  I used a 2.2 quart dish, but had a little overflow, so use something bigger than that.

Next, I tore the bread into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces and put them in a small bowl.  I melted 2 tablespoons of butter and poured it on top of the bread.  I tossed the bread in the butter to evenly coat the pieces.  Then I set that bowl to the side.  I put a pot of water on the stove to heat up for cooking the noodles.

I put the milk in a pan and heated it on medium heat.  In another pan, I melted 6 tablespoons of butter on medium heat.  When the butter bubbled, I added the flour and stirred well.  I cooked that mixture (called a roux) for 1 minute while constantly stirring.  I slowly added the milk to the roux while whisking.  I continued whisking the mixture for about 12 minutes while it remained on medium heat.  At that point, the sauce had started to thicken.   Then I added the dry mustard, nutmeg, kosher salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.  I stirred that well and then added 3 cups of cheddar cheese, 1 cup of parmesan cheese, and 1 cup pecorino romano cheese.  I added each cheese one at a time and made sure to mix well before adding another cheese.

Then I set the sauce to the side.  I added the macaroni noodles to my now boiling water and cooked the noodles until aldente.  After rinsing the noodles in cold water, I mixed the noodles and the cheese sauce together.  I transferred that mixture to the baking dish. 

I topped that with the remaining cheeses. 

On top of the cheese, I put the pieces of bread.

 I baked the dish for about 30 minutes.  Remove it when the cheese is bubbly and the bread pieces are a deep golden brown.  Here is what mine looked like right out of the oven:

Enjoy!