Imagine the following scene:

It's 11:30 at night. Three dancers return to their dorm room after four hours of rehearsal. They are starving.

"What are you going to eat?"

"Macaroni and cheese."

"Can I share with you?"

"The hot pot won't hold two boxes."

"I don't need a whole box to myself."

"But I do."

Yeah, that's me, not sharing and proudly planning to eat a whole box of mac and cheese for my second dinner.* Thanks to nights like this through high school and college, I probably single-handedly kept Kraft in business from 1993-2000. I used to eat 3-4 boxes of orange-powder, blue-box "macis" (as I called them) each week. Ask my mom; ask my college roommates. It was obscene.

Fast forward nine years, and I happily admit - right there in the sidebar - that boxed macis are my favorite guilty pleasure... particularly if accompanied by Keebler fudge stick cookies**, which are basically miniature Kit Kat bars. Food snobbery might keep me from indulging regularly, but indulge I do. In secret. When no one knows.

Fortunately, I'd never feed blue-box macis to you. Instead, I'd go with this one. First, it's made out of ingredients, which is an automatic step up from the box. It's got my favorite leeks to add a vegetable element and pleasing onion scent. The cheese sauce is enriched with dry white wine and a hint of blue cheese, lending an unexpected complexity. And did I mention it's powder-free?


Grown-Up Mac and Cheese
A Burghilicious Original

1 pound short pasta (penne, conchiglie, large shells, large elbows)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, divided
4 large leeks, halved, washed, and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 cup flour
2 1/2 cups whole milk***
Scant 1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup grated sharp cheddar
1/2 cup grated gruyere or emmenthaler
1/2 cup grated fontina
1/2 cup crumbled gorgonzola
1 cup grated parmesan, divided
A few grates of nutmeg
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cook the pasta in a large pot of generously salted water.

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the mornay sauce. Melt the 1/4 cup of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks and stir to coat. Cover the saucepan and cook until leeks are tender, stirring occasionally, 10-12 minutes. Uncover the pan.

While stirring, add the flour all at once. Keep stirring as you cook what is now a leek roux for 2-3 minutes. Add the milk a little at a time, starting with just a few tablespoons and building up from there and incorporating the milk fully before adding more. Once you have stirred in all the milk, stir in the cream, followed by the wine. Bring to a calm boil. Cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce thickens just slightly. Remove from heat. Stir the cheddar, gruyere, fontina, gorgonzola and half the parmesan into the sauce. Once they are melted, add a few grates of fresh nutmeg, then season to taste with salt and pepper.

Using the microwave, melt the final tablespoon of butter in a small bowl. Mix the panko and remaining grated parmesan into the melted butter.

Put the cooked pasta in a large caserole. Carefully pour the cheese sauce over the pasta and mix well. Top the pasta with the buttery panko-parmesan mixture.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until heated through and bubble. Switch the oven to broil. Broil until topping is pleasantly browned, just a minute or two. Serve hot with a green salad. Makes 4-6 meal-sized portions.

*If not for the fact that I was dancing 4-8 hours a day for all of those years, I would probably weigh 500 pounds.
**I also eat the whole package of fudge stick cookies. I cannot stop myself.
***Do not think you can substitute skim milk here. Reduced fat and skim milk don't behave as well in sauces. Your sauce will be thin and drip to the bottom of your casserole.