(Mostly) stove top mac and cheese

This is a modification of Rachel Ray’s Macaroni and cheddar cheese: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/macaroni-and-cheddar-cheese-recipe-2131153. The major change is increasing the amount of sauce.

Our go to Macaroni and cheese is from “The new basics cook book.” It takes me probably half an hour of harried labor or the better part of an hour if I do it relaxed. It then needs to bake for like 30 minutes. It's great, but it requires a lot of work, dirties a bunch of dishes and requires a pretentious cheese (gruyere). It makes enough food for 2 or 3 very filling meals for Ev and me and is worth it. However, with the Corona virus going around we had lots of cheddar, no Gruyere and are minimizing our shops (less than 1 a week) and so I searched for a cheddar cheese macaroni and cheese. I found this mostly stove top recipe (it goes under the broiled for some cheese melting and browning). After the first batch I made some tweaks. I was happy with both the first version and my alterations. It is not as good as my old go to, but it is easier in terms of ingredients (if you dont normally keep gruyere on hand), preparation and clean up. I think the verdict is I will still make my go to for guests and about once a season, but this will enter my usual cooking rotation. (Im excited to try variations: green chili or bacon). I should mention, I made this with powdered milk and it worked great. So keep that in mind if your store is low on milk.

1 lb pasta (elbows)

6oz or so broccoli (Im sure Kale would be great too).

3 1/2 cups cheddar cheese grated

Roux:

2 1/4 cups milk

1 Tbsp oil

3 Tbsp Butter 

4 1/2 Tbsp flour

1 tsp  ground black pepper

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp mustard

1/4 tsp nutmeg (I was skeptical but it helps give it a nice baked taste!)

1/4 tsp cayenne

Cook pasta. In the last minute or so add in the broccoli. Strain and place into a 9x13 pan.

Heat oil add butter and melt it over a medium heat. Add flour and stir until it turns light brown. Add milk to the flour and whisk together. Add the paprika, pepper, salt, nutmeg, mustard and cayenne. Continue whisking until it thickens so that when a wooden spoon is placed in it and pulled out it remains light coated in the sauce. Melt in the 2 1/2 cups of the cheese. 

Stir the sauce into the pasta and broccoli in the pan. Top with the remaing cheese and put under the broiler for 5-7 minutes until the cheese is melted and the top has appropriately browned. Serve!