Description
It seems like there are endless recipe variations on macaroni and cheese; however my family is not a big fan of cheese sauce-based macaroni and cheese. It seems to dilute the cheese flavor. This simple but tasty recipe was given to me at a church supper in Terre Haute; it’s old, definitely has German or Jewish (kugel?) roots. The secret is to use a good-quality EXTRA-SHARP Cheddar cheese.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 2 cups elbow macaroni
- ¼ cup butter, softened (Optional)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
- ½ (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 ½ pounds extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 pinch paprika, or to taste
- ¼ cup butter (Optional)
- ½ cup soft bread crumbs (Optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 2-quart casserole with butter.
- Dissolve salt in a large pot of water. Bring to a boil and cook macaroni
- stirring often
- until pasta is tender but still slightly firm to the bite
- about 8 minutes. Rinse macaroni under cool water
- drain
- and transfer to a bowl. Stir 1/4 cup softened butter into macaroni and toss a few times to melt butter and coat macaroni.
- Beat eggs in a bowl; whisk evaporated and condensed milks into eggs.
- Spread a layer of macaroni into the bottom of the prepared casserole; sprinkle with a layer of Cheddar cheese. Continue layering macaroni and cheese
- ending with a layer of cheese on top. Pour egg-milk mixture over the layers. Use a fork to gently dig into the layers
- assuring that the egg-milk mixture flows into all the layers. Sprinkle with paprika.
- Melt 1/4 cup butter in a small skillet over medium heat; cook bread crumbs in the hot butter
- stirring constantly
- until fragrant and golden
- 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle crumb topping over casserole.
- Bake in the preheated oven until casserole is browned and bubbling
- about 45 minutes.
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 55 mins
Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins
Servings: 8