Parmesan Macaroni & Cheese

Ingredients:
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded Wisconsin cheddar
1 cup grated Wisconsin parmesan
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika

for the breadcrumbs
1 cup freshly made bread crumbs
1 teaspoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt


1 lb small or medium sized pasta, cooked

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl, whisk together the breadcrumb ingredients. Set aside.

In a medium pan, melt the butter. Add the flour along with the spices and stir until smooth. Add the milk and whisk together until slightly thickened. Whisk in the Parmesan and cheddar until smooth. Pour over the drained pasta. Pour into lightly oiled baking dish. Top with a sprinkle of breadcrumbs. Bake covered about 15 minutes, then uncover and cook until hot and bubbly, about 10-15 additional minutes.

My thoughts:

I was approached by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board to develop a recipe using Wisconsin cheese for their 30 Days, 30 Ways Mac & Cheese blog for Macaroni and Cheese month. I picked parmesan because I was interested to see how non-Italian parmesan would taste like. As it turns out, it was remarkably good. Not quite as sharp as Italian Parmesan, it made for a very family friendly mac & cheese.