Best macaroni and cheese recipe is a choose-your-own adventure

Bethany Jean Clement

THE SEATTLE TIMES

I’m here as a macaroni-andcheese lover, not a macaroni-and-cheese fighter.

The title of the following recipe – “The Actual Best Macaroni and Cheese” – clearly indulges in hyperbole, for the actual best macaroni and cheese is, of course, made the way you like it most. In this celebration of gluten and dairy, everybody should be a winner (except those unable to partake, and sorry!).

Personally, I like most every kind of mac and cheese: Give it to me (please), and I will eat it, and I will be happy. I will eat it at a fancy restaurant (probably with lobster in it, which is absurd, but I will absolutely eat it), I will eat it at pretty much any restaurant that puts it on the menu (and please do), I will eat it from a grocerystore deli counter (would 100% right now, actually), I will eat it frozen from Trader Joe’s (surprisingly decent, and made with cheddar, havarti, Gouda and Swiss), I will eat it from a box, etc. The only style of macaroni and cheese that I have trouble getting behind is the pasta-in-a-slick-and-shinyVelveeta-type-sauce variety; I find the gluey factor a little off- this experience forever and always). Macaroni and cheese from a hospital cafeteria might be the best food possible if you’re coming to after terrifying surgery and you’re more hungry than you’ve ever been and also quite high on pain meds and you order it plus a chocolate shake and then while eating it you feel more intensely than you ever knew possible the urgent amorphous beauty of just being alive (ditto).

The love of macaroni and cheese has led me to experiment with different kinds of recipes, from the easy threeingredient type incorporating evaporated milk, to those with the inclusion of eggs for a more custardy situation, to the likes of Balthazar’s macaroni gratin (which, unexpectedly, convinced me that macaroni and cheese doesn’t need bacon).

Noodle consideration has occupied more of my time than it should; classic large elbow is classic for a reason and quite wholly pleasing, but penne has those external ridges for minute additional cheese-adhering pleasure and also a bit more chew (I switch back and forth).

The method here, involving a roux, is not the easiest, with a long stretch of hot and boring stirring while all the cheeses are added, but ultra-gooey, cas- for this macaroni, the leftovers make the world’s best grilled cheese. So the very best macaroni and cheese can be the one you make yourself – or, of course and even better, the one that someone who understands you makes for you. I got the idea here for putting a monogram cut out of a piece of bread on top from a friend who made me a letter-B mac and cheese, years ago now; he got his really good recipe from now dearly departed vegetarian a nutty one (along the Swiss-Gruyère-Comté axis), a sharp cheddar, maybe something extra melty-rich like fontina or the zippiness of Gorgonzola. Gouda is never a bad idea, in this application or in life in general. Consider Camembert for additional velvety texture and an intensification of flavor. Delicate fresh mozzarella arguably gets lost here, but a whole-milk mozz can be cut into 1/2-inch cubes and stirred into your pasta-and-cheese mix before baking for little hits of extra gooeyness. Organic cheeses (and milk) also can boost the wonder here. There’s not really a wrong way to go, though,

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

About 2 ounces Parmesan, finely grated

Breadcrumbs

Paprika (smoked or regular – you choose)

A couple/few slices of white bread

Melted butter

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Cook your pasta according to the directions on the package for al dente. Drain and rinse with cool water.

3. Butter the inside of a 9-by13-inch rectangular baking dish.

4. Get yourself a cold beverage –this next part is a bit boring and hot.

5. Melt the butter in a large skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook, continuing to whisk, for 1 minute.

6. Slowly whisk in the milk a little at a time, then cook while continuing to whisk until thickened to the consistency of light cream.

7. Drop in your trove of cheese a few pieces at a time, whisking constantly, allowing them to melt some before adding more. When it’s all incorporated (it will get gooey), stir in the Dijon, then add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and lots of grindings of pepper. Stir, taste and add more Dijon/salt/pepper as you see fit, a little at a time whilst tasting again.

8. In a large bowl, combine the cheese sauce and pasta, stirring to get the sauce all up in the noodles, then transfer the mixture to your buttered baking dish. Sprinkle with grated Parm, breadcrumbs and a

9. Cut selected initial(s), numeral(s) or symbol(s) out of slice(s) of white bread with a sharp knife; alternately, you could use a cookie-cutter. (Note: The bread scraps are ideal for sponging the left-behind cheese sauce from your pan and bowl into your mouth.)aroni, then brush with meltedbling and the bread-design/top is

Weddings Showers

Birthdays Memorials

FAIRFIELD — Local movie theaters this weekend will feature a tale of a crazy, coked-up bear raging through a forest in Georgia.

Also showing will be a film about a different type of religious revolution.

Opening nationwide are:

"Cocaine Bear," in which an odd group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converge in a Georgia forest where a 500-pound bear has ingested a staggering amount of cocaine and gone on a coke-fueled rampage for more. The film is rated R.

"Jesus Revolution," a film set in the 1970s about young Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney), who searches for all the right things in all the wrong places: until he meets Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie), a charismatic hippiestreet-preacher. Together with Pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer) they open the doors of Smith's languishing church to an unexpected revival of radical and newfound love, leading to what Time magazine dubbed a Jesus Revolution. The film not rated PG-13.

Opening in limited release are:

"Bunker," in which soldiers are trapped in a bunker during World War I. But they are not alone. Something inhuman slowly turns them against each other. As paranoia and fear grow between them, the men experience the true hell of war. The film is rated R.

"Give Me Pity," in which the star of a new television show goes slowly insane on live television. The film is not rated.

"Linoleum," in which Cameron Edwin (Jim Gaffigan), the host of a failing children's science had aspirations of being an astronaut. After a mysterious space-race era satellite coincidentally falls from space and lands in his backyard, his midlife crisis manifests in a plan to rebuild the machine into his dream rocket. His life slowly gets stranger and stranger until he realizes there is more going on than he ever could have imagined. The film is not rated.

"The Year of the Dog," in which Matt, a loner alcoholic at rock bottom, struggles to maintain sobriety for 30 days so he can honor his mother's dying wish to visit her in hospice, sober. His book-thumping AA sponsor, Fred, offers him refuge at his farm, where Matt finds Yup'ik, a stray Husky with a unique talent. The man and dog relationship is precarious at first, but with the help of a close-knit Montana community, the two strays find a connection and discover what it takes to pull through to the finish line. The film is rated PG-13.

"Who Are You People," in which a young woman flees back home after an attempt to seduce her teacher goes very wrong. The 16-year-old Alex turns her attention to finding the father she never knew and confronting the truth of her life. The film is not rated.

For information on Edwards Cinemas in Fairfield, visit www.regmovies.com/theatres/ re gal-edwards-fairfield-imax. For Vacaville showtimes, visit www. brendentheatres.com. For Vallejo showtimes, check www.cinemark. com/theatres/ca-vallejo. More information about upcoming films is available at www.movie