Me vs Myself: A Mac & Cheese Competition

My awesome friend hosted a get-together at her house this weekend, where she hosted a rib competition and a mac & cheese competition. It was going to be my partner & me competing against each other for the mac & cheese competition, but I ended up making both of our recipes for the competition, so it was literally a win-win for me. I made two delectable recipes: a truffle cheddar mac and a beer & gruyere mac (yes, I did choose the ingredients based on the fact that they rhymed). The beer & gruyere won the competition, but I'll let you choose what you think is the tastiest! I hope you enjoy.

Beer Mac & Cheese

Some days, all I want to do is eat mac & cheese. And by that, I mean, every single day. I'm always looking for new mac & cheese recipes, so if you have a good one, send it through. Today, I am presenting my two favorite things in one recipe: beer and mac & cheese. I found the recipe on Pinterest and it linked back to this website. Enjoy.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes

Pair with: beer, of course! I used New Belgium's Fat Tire for the recipe, so it seemed fitting to drink that.








Ingredients

2 1/2 cups of Trotolle noodles -- You can use any noodles that you prefer, these ones just looked so fun to me! 
Two (2) tablespoons of butter
Two (2) tablespoons of flour
Eight (8) ounces milk -- I used almond milk, because it is what I had on hand. It worked well, but for those of you who are weary about it, I recommend regular cow's milk
Eight (8) ounces of beer -- Like I said, I used Fat Tire amber ale
Eight (8) ounces of cheddar cheese, shredded
Four (4) ounces of smoked gouda cheese, shredded
1/4 teaspoon of smoked paprika
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
Seven (7) basil leaves, chopped for garnish
Black pepper, for seasoning

Directions
Preheat oven to 375F degrees.
Cook pasta as directed on the box, leaving it al dente, as it will cook more in the oven later.

While pasta is cooking, melt butter in pan on medium heat.
Once the butter is melted, whisk in flour and cook until it is a golden color (about 2 minutes).
Add beer and milk into the pan, continuously stirring. Then, add the cheese.
Continue to stir on a lower heat setting for about five minutes.
Add the paprika and pepper to the sauce.
Once the noodles are done, add the noodles and sauce to a casserole dish.
Top with panko bread crumbs and cook for 30 minutes.
When it is done, top with fresh basil and let cool.
Enjoy!

Tip
To chop fresh basil in the most efficient way, stack the leaves, roll them up and slice the roll. When you unfurl it, the basil will be in neat strips.