I agree with all points (mustard included, I tend to use a bit of a coarse ground brown), but go further: Add a little truffle oil (and I mean a little, truffle anything is kind of like mustard in the sense that too much overpowers the flavor instead of enhancing it so it should be on the quiet side of subtle) and some parmesan/similar before grating the rest of the extra cheese on top and it’s amazing. I also tend to add a bit of heavy cream and a little butter to the sauce. I don’t enjoy most macaroni and cheese mainly because people make it boring, but this is the perfect medley of umami, acidity, fat, and salt without any one flavor being too loud. As a side I usually split and roast a loaf of bread with fresh garlic and olive oil on top and roast up whatever cruciferous vegetable I have around. It’s a great comfort meal that I particularly enjoy on cold wet fall days.
Just made some yesterday at the request of my kids. Boil the pasta and grate a bunch of cheese, mix of whatever you have, hopefully some is sharp. Pour the pasta out into a colander (actually mine was half cauliflower, also at request of the kids). Put a whole stick of butter (had 1lb dry pasta plus a lot of cauliflower) in the pot and back on medium heat. Into melted butter put flour to make a light roux. Once that is ready, add milk slowly, whisking continuously until you have a sauce like for biscuits and gravy. Then add the cheese, let it all melt, keep stirring but with wooden spoon; stir in some mustard and any other seasonings you want, then the pasta.
Into buttered dish, topping (I used bread crumbs, shredded cheese works, crushed potato chips also work, or any combination of these) bake at 400f or so until the top is golden.
I agree with all points (mustard included, I tend to use a bit of a coarse ground brown), but go further: Add a little truffle oil (and I mean a little, truffle anything is kind of like mustard in the sense that too much overpowers the flavor instead of enhancing it so it should be on the quiet side of subtle) and some parmesan/similar before grating the rest of the extra cheese on top and it’s amazing. I also tend to add a bit of heavy cream and a little butter to the sauce. I don’t enjoy most macaroni and cheese mainly because people make it boring, but this is the perfect medley of umami, acidity, fat, and salt without any one flavor being too loud. As a side I usually split and roast a loaf of bread with fresh garlic and olive oil on top and roast up whatever cruciferous vegetable I have around. It’s a great comfort meal that I particularly enjoy on cold wet fall days.
Edit: a word
Just made some yesterday at the request of my kids. Boil the pasta and grate a bunch of cheese, mix of whatever you have, hopefully some is sharp. Pour the pasta out into a colander (actually mine was half cauliflower, also at request of the kids). Put a whole stick of butter (had 1lb dry pasta plus a lot of cauliflower) in the pot and back on medium heat. Into melted butter put flour to make a light roux. Once that is ready, add milk slowly, whisking continuously until you have a sauce like for biscuits and gravy. Then add the cheese, let it all melt, keep stirring but with wooden spoon; stir in some mustard and any other seasonings you want, then the pasta.
Into buttered dish, topping (I used bread crumbs, shredded cheese works, crushed potato chips also work, or any combination of these) bake at 400f or so until the top is golden.
So good, not healthy even with cauliflower.