{A disproportionate amount of} Cheese and Macaroni

9-cheese Macaroni & Cheese

It's Super Bowl Sunday, and that means something.

To somebody. Somewhere.

If that somebody is you, well, then I hope your team's beater doesn't quaffle the snitch while attempting a triple-double.

By now, you're probably thinking all I know about sports I learned from Harry Potter or an old Ice Cube song about having a most excellent day-off.

But that's not true. I'm an Okie, so I know my football.

College football, that is. 

Boomer.

I have thrown some Super Bowl shindigs in my day. The last one we hosted was the time a certain sibling of Michael Jackson exposed a certain part of her anatomy and a certain portion of the viewing public (as in, the majority of folks who live in the part of the country I do)threw an absolute hissy about what obviously was a costume-fail. 

In the spirit of that awesome half-time show, I present a Super Bowl party dish that will equally blow your pasties off. Or at least maybe expose them when you weren't ready. Whatever. 

9-Cheese Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Note to you: I realize that most people don't have 9 types of cheese just sitting around, like I do. In observance of full disclosure, 5 of the cheeses were from some 5-blend shredded bag o' cheese, which I just added to get crazy. Not necessary.

16 oz. of elbow macaroni, cooked and drained

10 oz. sharp white cheddar, grated 

(I used my food processor to grate all the hard cheeses)

6 oz. Poddo, or other hard white cheese

1-2 oz Gorgonzola, crumbled

8 oz. 2% Velveeta, cubed

1/2 cup 5-cheese grated cheese blend (optional)

1/4 cup of Italian breadcrumbs, mixed with 1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs (optional)

4 cups of milk (I used 2% as well)

1 (12 oz) can fat-free evaporated milk

1/3 cup flour

1 bay leaf

Pinch each: chili powder, dried basil, paprika

Big pinch of salt and pepper

2-3 shallots, minced

3 tbsp butter

In a good-sized saucepan, melt butter on medium heat until foaming. Saute shallots for five minutes, or until tender. Add bay leaf and spices, mix well. Lower heat slightly; add flour and mix with butter to make a roux. DON'T BURN YOUR ROUX! Add the milk and evaporated milk; bring the heat up slightly and whip the roux into the milk. Allow to thicken for 10 minutes, but do not allow the milk to scorch. Fish out the bay leaf and discard. Slowly add the Velveeta, half the white cheddar and Poddo, and stir until all the cheeses have melted into the milk sauce. 

Place all the pasta into a large baking pan; pour the cheese sauce over the pasta and toss the pasta well. Top the pasta and cheese sauce with the remaining white cheddar/Poddo and the 5-cheese blend, if using. Finish with a layer of the breadcrumbs.

Bake pasta at 375 for 30 minutes, then switch the oven to broil on low heat. Toast the breadcrumbs and brown the cheese for 2 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to settle for 10 minutes before serving.

Try to keep all your unmentionables in place and be sure to warn guests ahead of time, to avoid your own half-time fiasco.

PS: Sooner!