— that glorious food that is both side dish and main dish.
But one of my favorite grown up versions is the baked Gratin de Macaroni at Les Chefs de France in Epcot’s France Pavilion.
The dish is so well loved that it’s even made its way onto the menu over the years for the Epcot Food and Wine Festival in the France Marketplace Booth. Will it make the cut for the 2014 Food and Wine Festival? Only time will tell!
But for the mac and cheese lover, this dish has everything! Sharp, tangy Gruyère cheese, golden crust, and it’s plenty big enough to share — if you want to! (Confession: Usually I don’t want to.)
But what are you to do if your next advance dining reservation for this wonderful spot is months off, and you’re craving some of this awesomeness, like, yesterday???
Gratin de Macaroni at Les Chefs de France
Why, make it at home, of course! Because with this recipe, the cheesy power is in your hands.
Gratin de Macaroni
Les Chefs de FranceIngredients:
3/4 pounds elbow macaroni or rigatoni
3 cups whole milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup flour
1 pinch nutmeg
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups shredded Gruyère cheese
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper – to taste
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Butter a large baking dish; set aside.
3. Begin cooking macaroni until just al dente, or slightly underdone. Drain and set aside when done.
4. While the macaroni cooks, heat milk in a small saucepan over medium heat – do not let simmer.
5. Melt butter in a medium saucepan.
6. Add flour to melted butter.
7. Stir 1 to 2 minutes, until butter-flour mixture is golden.
8. Slowly whisk in warm milk.
9. Add nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
10. Cook sauce, whisking often, until thickened – about 10 minutes
11. Remove from heat.
12. Add heavy cream and half of the Gruyère cheese.
13. Stir until cheese is completely melted.
14. Combine macaroni with cheese sauce.
15. Pour the macaroni and cheese into the large baking dish.
16. Top with remaining half of Gruyère and Parmesan.
17. Cover dish with foil.
18. Bake 10 minutes.
19. Remove foil and continue baking until cheese is golden brown.
20. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
With summer on its way, we don’t have too many more cool nights to enjoy a comfort dish like this. So I say, let’s grab some Gruyère and get going with the goodness! Who’s with me?
Can you resist a good Gratin de Macaroni recipe? Me neither! Let us know when you’ll be making this incredible dish by sounding off in comments!
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This sounds absolutely delicious and easy to make too! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
So adding the ingredients to my grocery list. Sounds delicious.
This looks simple to make. I want to try this!
That’s actually pretty close to the recipe re-creation I use! I like to heat a small bay leaf in with the milk, though. I think it adds something that was otherwise not there. The nutmeg, too! Seems optional, but really gives the recipe that special something.
I love the Mac & Cheese Chefs de France and get it every time I go. However, I’ve never been able to finish it all. It tends to get too strong/rich for me about half way through.
I love the potatoes au gratin, so I know I will love this. going to try and make it for Easter or maybe a summer cook out. thanks for the Recipe.
I wanted to love this dish at Chefs de France so much, but when I tried it, it was a bit bland and not nearly cheesy enough 🙁 We’re returning in September and I can’t decide whether to order it again and risk disappointment OR try the short ribs with pasta. Decisions, decisions!
About 10 years ago I had this for the first time at Disney. I instantly fell in love with the taste. It is tough to order mac and cheese in a restaurant as an adult when your child is also ordering it.
I have been cooking this meal ever since and have never been able to quite perfect it. I will be making this recipe tomorrow. Thank you for posting this.
Making this now for Valetine’s Dinner… Using Mickey pasta 🙂
This was delicious! I used a Gruyere/Cheddar from Trader Joes.
My kids could not wait so i did not bake it. So creamy!
I would advise that at the step that you add the cheese to the thickened sauce, taste test before you add it to the pasta. I agree that with half of the Gruyere, the sauce wasn’t as flavorful as I would have liked. You can always add more or less cheese to the top after the sauce has been mixed with the pasta, but err on the side of more cheese in the sauce for more flavor.