Macaroni & Cheese
2 quart casserole dish
(double recipe for 4 quart, multiply by 2.5 for 5 quart)
2 C macaroni
3 T butter
2 T flour
2 C milk
2 C cheese
1 t salt (adjust to taste)

I recommend Monterey Jack and sharp New York white cheddar, as this tastes quite a bit like government cheese.

Preheat your oven to 350º.

Start by boiling your macaroni for about 7-10 minutes. You want it to be slightly firm. Strain the noodles, and put them in your casserole dish.

Make a roux in a pot large enough to hold your milk and cheese. First, melt your butter, and let some of the water in it cook away until the butter starts to clarify. Now add your flour, and mix it with the melted butter. Allow this mixture to cook for a few minutes to take the raw flavor out of the flour.

Little by little, add your milk, mixing to prevent a lump of buttered flour from floating in a pot of milk. Keep the tempurature low enough to keep from scorching the milk, and stir frequently to keep anything from sticking to the bottom and burning. Add your cheese when the milk is hot, and mix until smooth. Add your salt to the sauce, first one half teaspoon, and then more up to your specific taste, as this will be the foundation of your dish.

Pour your cheese sauce onto the macaroni, and mix everything around to get the air out of the noodles. Feel free to top the macaroni with cheddar, mozzarella, breadcrumbs, whatever you prefer. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. It retains heat rather well, so if serving it hot, be sure to caution everyone to let it cool.

If you like to live on the edge, you can skip cooking the milk down, and mix your cheese sauce directly with uncooked macaroni, which will soften during the baking process, though some may scream bloody murder about this.