My October issue of Everyday Food arrived yesterday and I dove right in. I had to try the Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese. Mac and cheese is always a big hit in this house.
It starts with cooking some onions, creating a roux and then adding milk. This recipe created a very milky sauce – 4 cups of milk to 3/4 lb cheese. I wasn’t happy with this at all. I ended up dumping in some Velveeta I had lying around (necessary for my grandmother’s cheese potatoes recipe which I made a few weeks and Velveeta never dies – seriously I think it would survive a nuclear attack). This helped it a lot. The recipe also calls for some Dijon mustard and Worchestershire.
I made the sauce and went to add it to the pasta and there was WAY too much. I only used half of the cheese sauce (I stuck the rest in the fridge and will use some on cauliflower tonight I think). I did add Velveeta, but I didn’t add that much, so I don’t know why this was so out of whack. I would suggest making it with a lot less milk – possibly just 2 cups.
As for taste — Eh. It was just eh. Personally I think the mac and cheese recipe Martha has in her Cooking School book is the best one there is, so I would stick with that in the future. This was easy to make and it was good, but not the best I’ve ever had.
Martha and Me 
I’m not a big mac and cheese fan, so when my husband gets it, it’s from a box. 🙂 Is your favorite one from Martha Stewart cookbook easy?
Yes – the one in the cookbook is almost exactly the same as this recipe – you make the onion, then the roux, then add milk and cheese, but the proportions are different so it doesn’t make such a soupy sauce. That recipe says to stick it in the oven in a casserole dish, but I find that step to be unnecessary. It just makes it look prettier.
If you want a good stovetop recipe without the neon orange powder, try Alton Brown’s stovetop recipe. I substitute American for the sharp cheddar for my kids, but it’s a fantastic recipe. 🙂