Think of this as like, grown up, sophisticated Easy Mac. It is seriously maybe like 12% more difficult so you really do not have any excuses. If you are craving a gooey creamy bowl of GOOD cheesy shells (think Panera Bread mac) (but this is MORE CHEESY), this is the purrrrrfect recipe for you. It also only serves about 1 person so you don’t even have to share. But you can easily double the recipe if you want to.
**I also have a video tutorial of this on my Instagram highlights!!**
Recommended add-ons to spice this up:
- BBQ chicken or brisket
- Buffalo chicken
- Jalapenos or green chiles (shoutout hatch green chile szn)
- Actual chili
- Truffle oil
- LOBSTER????? WHAT!!!
- or just eat it plain like I do and spoon feed it to yourself on the couch while watching Selling Sunset
what you need:
- A HEAPING 1 cup of shells I used Banza shells because I was trying to be #healthy
- 1 cup freshly graded Gouda grate it yourself don’t buy the bagged stuff it’s like plastic
- 1/2 cup milk you can use almond milk or any other lactose substitute just make sure it is not sweetened or flavored because no one wants sweet vanilla shells
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp ground mustard my secret macaroni ingredient!!! shhhhhh!!!
what you need to do:
- In a large pot, boil some water and add a bunch of salt to it. Cook your pasta to package instructions.
- In a separate nonstick pan, melt your butter on low-medium heat (like a 3 on the dial).
- Using a whisk, mix in the flour to your melted butter, creating a thick roux.
- Whisk and cook down the flour for about 2 – 3 minutes, until it is a very thick paste.
- Add your salt, pepper, and ground mustard. Whisk to incorporate.
- Slowly whisk in your milk, continuing to whisk for another 2 – 3 minutes, or until the mixture is a cohesive thick gravy like consistency. It will be weird and a little curdled at first but just keep whisking.
- Once it is a pretty cohesive, almost pudding like texture, add in your cheese and whisk and whisk until it becomes a cheesy pot of sauce.
- Taste to make sure the salt level is okay, and feel free to add more if you prefer.
- My salt thought process: add a little at a time because you cannot take it out, but you can always add more.
- Once all of the cheese is melted, use a slotted spoon and scoop your noodles a little at a time into the sauce. Do not drain them, as we want that pasta water to help thin out the sauce and coat the noodles.
- Once you add all of the noodles, stir to combine. Since the shells have little tiny caves in them, stir for a bit to make sure you get them completely coated in sauce.
- Plate into your ONE SINGLE BOWL and and DIVE ON IN!!!!!