Three Cheese "Mac & Cheese" with Breadcrumbs & Herbs

STORY TIME: AN UNCONVENTIONAL METHOD

Most mac & cheese recipes that use fresh cheese include a base sauce such as bechamel to melt the cheese and form the base of the sauce. It works well and I agree that it's a technically sound way to do it. This isn't that recipe though and I admit that the method I lay out below is slightly unconventional for a mac & cheese.

The intent of this recipe is more about achieving something tasty, fairly quickly (for a baked pasta) and simple steps than it is about being technically correct. Fundamentally a cheese sauce is a combination of heated liquid and cheese usually involving butter + flour + milk for bechamel and the addition of gruyere to create a mornay sauce and any such variation. Or, heavy cream for a crema-style cheese sauce which if we are talking flavor and mouthfeel is insanely delish. Either way, both versions apply the heat to a pot and involve a certain amount of temperature control and stirring.

This recipe skips the pot and countless minutes of stirring and instead relies on the cheese + pasta + milk + cream mixture to bake & bubble together while the breadcrumbs become golden. When I cooked this for the first time, it was out of a need to prepare the dinner quickly and a bit of curiosity. The result was pretty astounding and produced a creamy, cheesy, and toasty mac & cheese.

There are culinary rules and there are traditions, and any curious mind has to ask why. Sometimes a specific dish's origin story traces back to a specific point in time, and it's clear why the dish is the way it is. Sometimes culinary rules are put in place just to keep the cooks on track to make the chef's food the chef's way. Sometimes it's worth exploring the boundaries whether on purpose or accident and see what happens. It doesn't always produce something tasty but sometimes something amazing happens. Like foie gras mousse, I find it hard to believe that a sous chef (that's who usually handles higher price ingredients in restaurants) just decided to put the foie into a blender without something happening during the cooking. The sous chef must have overcooked the terrine and out of self-preservation didn't want the chef to find out so they whipped it into a mouse and said "Chef! Look at this, it'll be perfectly served with brioche toast points and caviar". That may or may not be a true story (and the sous chef will remain unnamed). Side note, sous chefs do this kind of thing to chefs, so I imagine the origin story of foie gras mousse was probably close to that recounting...

Prep the ingredients ahead of time and baking later can be done however if you do this, keep the milk & cream mixture separate from the pasta & cheese, and only combine it when you're ready to bake. Let everything come to room temp before baking though, 30 minutes is enough time, a cold pan and ingredients will increase the cooking time.