Barefoot Contessa Mac and Cheese

One of my naughty attendings was raving about some mac and cheese that his sister in law made the other night. After a little investigation I found out that she made the Barefoot Contessa's version. I looked through my library (pronounced lie - berry down here) and found the book. Someone gave it to me as a gift a couple years ago.

We tried the recipe and were fairly impressed. It features gruyere cheese. You may recognize the name from fondue recipes. I liked it a lot because my grandpa never ate mac and cheese without stewed tomatoes. The tomatoes on the top of this dish add some interest and some contrasting flavor. As a kid I liked mac and cheese plain but now I am more interested in combinations of flavors.

Barefoot Contessa's Mac and Cheese

1 T salt
1 pound macaroni
1 quart milk
8 T butter
1/2 cup flour
12 oz gruyere cheese - shredded
8 oz extra sharp cheddar - shredded
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t nutmeg
4 small tomatoes, sliced
1 1/2 cups fresh white bread processed into crumbs

1) preheat oven to 375 degrees
2) Boil the macaroni to al dente and drain well
3) Heat milk in a saucepan but don't boil it.
4) Melt 6 T butter in a saucepan and drop in the flour. Cook for a couple minutes, stirring.
5) Drop the milk into the flour/butter pan and stir. Cook a couple minutes until it starts to thicken up.
6) Remove from heat and add the rest of the ingredients except for tomatoes and bread crumbs.
7) Pour into a greased baking dish.
8) Top the dish with sliced tomatoes, then bread crumbs.
9) Bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes until top is brown and cheese sauce is nice and bubbly.