Mac and Cheese

I love mac and cheese.  It's a real comfort food for our family.  It's one of those dishes that you can do a million things with and it still will taste great!

You will need:
Kosher sea salt
6 TBS unsalted butter
1 medium onion, finely diced
6 TBS unbleached all-purpose flour
1 quart milk, heated
1 large sprig fresh thyme, plus 1 tsp chopped thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
2 cups, packed , extra sharp white cheddar
1 cup packed, Monterrey Jack
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
pepper
1 lb macaroni or other small pasta
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
2 cups bread crumbs
1/2 cup parmigiano-Reggiano (or Parmesan cheese)

1.pre-heat oven to 400F
2. cook pasta
3. in a heavy sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add onion, 1/2 tsp salt until onion soft (4 - 5  minutes) add flour and mix well.  Switch to a whisk and add the milk.
4. stir in thyme and bay leaf and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a slow boil.
5. remove from heat and stir in cheese until melted. Add salt and pepper.

6. Pour pasta into a casserole dish and mix in cheese sauce.
7. In a  medium bowl, toss the breadcrumbs Parmigiano, olive oil chopped thyme 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper.  Scatter the crumbs over the pasta.
8. Bake until crumb topping is golden, about 15 minutes.  Let stand for 5 - 10 minutes before serving

you could add bacon, or tomatoes or Tabasco sauce or ground beef.....or whatever else you can think of.

If you have a picky eater you can make cauliflower puree.  Use 1/2 puree. 1/2 milk and then add the rest of the ingredients.

For a more sophisticated mac and cheese you could use 31/2 cups of milk and 1 1/2 cups of dry white wine.  Then sub in cheese like Gruyere, Emmentaler and grated fontina.  Use sage instead of thyme in the dish and chives in the topping instead of thyme.