My brother was out from NYC for a couple of weeks recently. When I told him we were having mac and cheese one night for dinner, he paled. After politely taking a tiny 2" x 2" portion, he proceeded to devour 3/4 of the entire pan!
 

Makes 6 servings

Forget about that scary orange stuff you lived off in college, this is genuine comfort food. After all, how can you go wrong with pasta and melted cheese? I know this looks long, so probably daunting, Don't worry, I'm just doing my best to be clear. You can start this and have it in the oven in about 20 minutes, depending on how many other distractions you are dealing with.

Opinions:
* Any small twisty pasta, hollow or solid, makes a good macaroni. If using elbow, I prefer the small over the large, because I find that the large makes big air holes. Let's face it, the object is to have noodles coated with cheese, and big air holes just don't fit with that plan.
* The pasta MUST be dried. Fresh pasta will make a gelatinous solid fit for wall building.
* I usually use Tillamook Jack, but that's because that's what they sell at COSTCO. The critical ingredient cheese-wise, is the Black Diamond white cheddar. To me, it just has the perfect sharpness.
* Cheese sauce is just white or bechamel sauce with cheese added. The secret to making perfect white sauce (no lumps) is to have the milk hot before adding it. I use a microwave, since it decreases my chance of burning the milk, cus gee, I'm usually doing five things other things BESIDES cooking when I'm "cooking".
* I've had people tell me that the only milk that will work for white sauce is whole milk. Well, sorry, that's not true. I use 1% all the time, and it works beautifully. I don't think non fat would work, but I've never tried.
* I'm not a big salt fan, and cheese has alot of salt, so I let people add their own at the table.
* We like this served with a big green salad, because then we feel like we are getting some roughage! And besides, the two complement each other very well.

The pasta
1/2 pound macaroni - small elbow, or fusilli, or other small, "twisty" pasta
1/4 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup grated Black Diamond white cheddar
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs (I use Contadina)
2 tbsp butter

The cheese sauce
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1-1/4 cups milk, heated
3/4 cup grated Monterey Jack
3/4 cup grated Black Diamond white cheddar
1/8 tsp ground powdered garlic
1/2 tsp ground powdered onion
freshly ground pepper

The sequence
1. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain and set aside. Mix in a little olive oil so that it doesn't clump.
2. Melt 2 tbsp butter. Do not let it brown. It's better to take it off the heat when most of the butter is melted and just let the rest melt on its own.
3 Add 2 tbps flour to the melted butter and put back on low heat. Stir continuously until the paste bubbles a little. Don't let it brown.
4. Add the hot milk to the paste and continue to stir. The sauce will start to thicken up.
5. Add 3/4 cup grated Monterey Jack and 3/4 cup grated Black Diamond white cheddar to the sauce.
6. Add the powdered garlic and powdered onion.
7. Continue stirring and bring to a boil. Remove from heat once it has boiled. Most of all of the cheese will have melted. Don't worry, the rest will melt as it sits there.
8. Coat a 9" square pan with olive oil.
9. Put the pasta into the pan.
10. Stir the cheese sauce and taste to see if you want to add pepper.
11. Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta, gently stirring it in so the sauce is evenly distributed.
12. Melt 2 tbsp butter, remove from heat, and stir in the bread crumbs until they are evenly coasted with butter.
13. Sprinkle the top of the mac and cheese with the remaining grated Jack and cheddar and add the bread crumbs on top.
14. Cook at 375 F until top is golden and mac is bubbling.
15. Remove from oven and dig in.

YUM YUM YUM.