Baked Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

½ Pound elbow Macaroni
3 T Butter
3 T Flour
1 T Powdered Mustard
3 C milk –powdered milk for food storage
½ C onion, finely diced
1 Bay Leaf
½ t. Paprika
1 Large Egg
12 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 t salt and fresh ground pepper

Topping:
3 T Butter
1 C *Panko bread crumbs

Directions:
Cook pasta. While that’s cooking, in separate pot melt butter and add flour and mustard and keep it moving so it doesn’t get lumps. Stir in milk, onion, bay, and paprika. Simmer for ten min and remove the bay leaf.
Temper in the egg. Stir in ¾ of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-qt casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.
Topping:
Melt butter in saucepan and toss in breadcrumbs to coat. Top macaroni with bread crumbs. Bake 30 min. Let sit for 5 min. before serving.


*Panko Bread Crumbs

Ingredients


* 1 loaf white bread, or
* If you don't have white bread, use soda crackers, like Saltines and oyster crackers or melba toast, instead. Approx. 23 saltine crackers per cup

Directions
1
Push chunks of white bread through the shredding disk of a food processor to make coarse crumbs.
2
Spread the crumbs on a baking sheet and bake at 300 F degrees until the crumbs are dry but not toasted, about 6 to 8 minutes. Shake the sheet twice during baking. Be careful not to let the crumbs brown!
3
Immediately remove breadcrumbs from oven and allow them to cool.
4
Once cooled, crumbs may be stored in the freezer, in a resalable plastic bag for as long as several months.