On day 6, Aldi gave us a black pepper gouda that pairs beautifully with parmesan for a delicious, mellow mac and cheese.
Every year, Aldi releases a cheese Advent calendar. The calendar contains one individually wrapped piece of cheese for each day. There are twelve different cheeses available so we have two opportunities to explore different recipes we can make to feature each cheese. This is one of those recipes. Follow along here.
When considering pasta for a mac and cheese, it’s important to find a balance in the size of your pasta. Noodles that are too small will leave you with a mac and cheese that is a soupy mess with no structure. But if your noodles are too long or too large they will be difficult to eat, making what should be a great experience cumbersome and annoying.
Sauce
When you bite into a piece of cheese, pay attention to when the flavor hits you. Sometimes, it’s right when you bite into it and that’s what I call an Opener Cheese. Sometimes the flavor takes a little time to develop and I call this a Closer cheese. Perfect mac and cheese sauce finds balance between opener and closer flavors by using several cheeses along the spectrum.
Young goudas, like what we see from the Aldi Advent Calendar, are opener cheeses and will shine best when paired with a closer cheese. For today’s recipe I used Parmesan, which balances beautifully with a variety of opener cheeses.
I added a little extra pepper to this recipe. When eating the gouda alone, it shines. But when we’re diluting the pepper flavor with sauce, pasta, and other cheeses, it needs a help shining through.
Toppings
The flavors in this black pepper gouda and parmesan mac and cheese are a little more mellow. If you’re hoping to fancy it up with toppings, you’ll want to aim for something a little more muted. This is not the time for sliced jalapenos and buffalo chicken. Crispy breadcrumbs would add a nice texture component and grilled chicken would add some savory flavors that would compliment the dish nicely.
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Black Pepper Gouda and Parmesan Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 16 oz Pasta
- 3 tbsp Butter
- 3 tbsp Flour
- 3 cups Whole Milk
- 4 oz Black Pepper Gouda grated
- 4 oz Parmesan grated
- Salt to taste
- Black Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions
- Pre heat your milk in the microwave for 45 seconds – just enough to take the chill out of it.
- Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat and let it heat until it becomes foamy.
- Mix in flour. Cook it for a minute while stirring constantly
- Slowly add warmed milk to the butter mixture 1/4 cup at a time. Whisk it continually until combined. Season generously with salt and fresh cracked pepper.
- Once all of the milk is added, cook for a few minutes while whisking it. Do not let it boil. You will feel the sauce start to thicken. It’s ready for cheese when you rub a small amount between your fingers and it feels silky.
- Remove from heat and stir in your cheese until it’s melted and mixed into the sauce.
- Once the cheese is incorporated, use a cooked noodle to taste your sauce. If it doesn’t taste cheesy enough try adding a little more salt to bring out the flavor.
- Combine the pasta and sauce and serve.
