This is my mother’s recipe (more or less). This is what I grew up eating, and it’s perfect.
2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar (sometimes I swap a 1/4c. Swiss-- if I have slices of Sharp Kraft or Velveeta slices, I add about 2, because it makes the texture a little smoother-- 2 c. is about what you get from an 8oz block); if you don’t like sharp, you can use mild– I think the texture will be the same.
3-4 cups boiled macaroni (you can make your own, buy the “fresh” kind, or use boxed; I grew up on boxed, plain old elbow mac, but have used the textured kind, curly kind, as well as mini shells, and bowtie) the "3-4 cups" is to taste– how cheesy do you like it?
1 large onion, diced and sauteed. Officially, the recipe calls for sautee in butter, but I have used olive oil as well as olive oil/butter combos. I have sprayed the pan with non-stick sprays, and skimped on butter, but you have to use something. This does not work with dry onions. My mother always used yellow onions. I have used Vidalia with success. Red onions do not work.
1.5 c. peeled, chopped, blanched tomatoes. We always grew Italian tomatoes in our garden, and my mother froze peeled, chopped, blanched tomatoes in plastic bags. I’m really not sure how much each bag held, nor how many she thawed to make mac & cheese, but I have used canned tomatoes when I have not had access to garden tomatoes. Hydroponic tomatoes from the produce section of Walmart don’t work. Unless you have a garden or a farmer’s market, use the canned–but get tomatoes ONLY, not “stewed tomatoes” that have peppers and onions.
Preheat the oven to 350F, (176.6C, but you should be able to round up to 180C just fine)
Use a baking pan with a lid, or casserole dish, and start layering. Put pasta at the bottom, with a shallow layer, get some tomato juice on it. Then a layer of cheese, then onion. Make the layers thicker as you increase them, and you should have about 3 of each. Try to top with cheese. If you have Parmesan, you can shake a bit on top for garnish, but you don’t need it for flavor.
Bake it 45 minutes to an hour (less if you used less cheese and pasta, more if you used more). Let it sit on the counter for 15 - 20 minutes. This part is important. The pasta soaks up liquid and therefore flavor while it sits, so you need to give it time to do this, but not so much time that is gets cold. Eating it too soon means it’s hot and watery, but too long, it’s cold and gummy. If you hit the sweet spot, it is so good, you won’t believe it’s just simple mac & cheese.
It’s good reheated as well, though-- oven or microwave.
). I will sometimes do half mac and cheese, half cauliflower cheese. I’ll use same sauce but use half for mac and cheese, the other half I’ll pour over some cauliflower thats already been roasted (or part roasted) and cook the same way as mac and cheese.