Ina Garten’s Mac n Cheese Recipe Calls for a Surprising Ingredient That Adds ‘A Nice Little Crunch & Delicious Flavor’
There’s not much you can do to ruin macaroni and cheese. It’s a comfort food staple — beloved by kids and grown-ups alike! — and we love it so much. But Ina Garten’s mac n cheese recipe takes it up a notch. She uses a surprising ingredient to add extra flavor and crunch to her dish, and we’ll never look at regular mac n cheese the same again.
In a new video on Food Network’s YouTube Channel, the Barefoot Contessa revealed her secret to a delicious bowl of macaroni and cheese — and it’s something Italian dishes use often in their recipes.
Garten, who calls this recipe “traditional mac and cheese with the volume turned up,” starts by making a white sauce. She heats milk in one pan and pours it into another pan with butter and other ingredients. Garten seasons it with a few different items, including nutmeg, which she says, “brings out the flavor in the cheese.”
Cheese is critical, of course. For this recipe, Garten uses Gruyere and extra-sharp cheddar, both of which she grates before adding to the sauce. She previously cooked macaroni noodles and drained them, and now she’s ready to pour it all together and mix it in a huge bowl. “This is enough for a crowd,” she comments. “In my experience, everybody loves it so they eat a lot.” We can see why!
The final touch: baking it! And here’s where the surprising ingredient comes in. Once the noodles and the sauce are mixed together, Garten pours it in a baking pan and tops it with sliced tomatoes. It might seem weird to add tomatoes to a mac and cheese recipe, but if you think about it, tomatoes often go great with pasta, so why not?
“I’m going to do sliced tomatoes and breadcrumbs on the top,” Garten says. “This gives a nice little crunch and delicious flavor.” Say less, because we are already sold on this recipe!
After it’s baked to a crispy golden-brown, Garten tastes it and declares the recipe “mac and cheese, but better.” We can’t wait to make it for ourselves!
Get Garten’s full mac and cheese recipe HERE. And if you need some ideas on a main course to serve with the mac and cheese, Garten has some fabulous choices.
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