Some people love truffle, others abhor it, but what if you had the perfect balance of truffle melted into your mac and cheese? Even the truffle haters can be converted with this recipe. It's all about the balance of truffle to cheese so that the truffle doesn't overpower the dish but contributes a pleasant mushroom-y earthiness. As someone who is personally not a huge fan of truffle cheese, believe me, this recipe will convert you! And for the truffle cheese lovers out there, you are in luck!
What's the best type of cheese for pairing with truffle?
Savory alpine cheeses, cheddars meltable Monterey jack-style and provolone cheeses are all great options for truffle in mac and cheese. Deer Creek Cheese's Wild Boar is a Monterey Jack-style recipe where the curds have been mixed with black truffle. It is an amazing melting cheese and is incredibly well-balanced. Wild Boar is featured in our upcoming December Quarterly Cheese Subscription.
1 pound dried pasta (elbow macaroni, orecchiette, or our favorite: cestini)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
4 cups whole milk
3 cups meltable truffle cheese, like Deer Creek’s Wild Boar, featured in our December Quarterly Subscription Box. (Don’t have truffle cheese? Try 3 cups Monterey Jack or Provolone cheese and 2 teaspoons all natural truffle oil)
2 cups alpine cheese like Pleasant Ridge Reserve or Gruyère AOP
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and butter a 3 qt baking dish.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add dried pasta and cook 1 minute less than the package directs (we want it to be al dente). Drain and rinse with cool water, pour into a bowl, and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil to keep it from sticking.
Meanwhile, shred cheeses and toss together in a bowl to mix. Portion the mixed shredded cheese: 3 cups will be used for the sauce, and 2 cups for the topping.
Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Sprinkle in flour and whisk to combine. It will form a thick, granular paste. Cook for approximately 1 minute, until golden brown, whisking often. Slowly pour in about 2 cups of the milk while whisking constantly. Once combined, pour in the remaining milk, continuing to whisk.
Continue to heat, whisking very often, until thickened to a thick soup consistency. It should coat the back of your spoon without dripping, and when stirring you should start to see the milk pulling away from the bottom of the pot.
Remove from the heat and stir in salt, pepper, and 1½ cups of the cheeses, stirring to melt and combine. Stir in another 1½ cups of cheese, and stir until completely melted in.
In a large mixing bowl, combine drained pasta with cheese sauce, stirring to fully coat the pasta Pour the pasta mixture into the prepared baking dish. Top with 2 cups of shredded cheeses.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until bubbly and golden brown.
Jessica Sennett
Jessica Sennett is the founder and inventor of Cheese Grotto. Her whole life is cheese - seriously.
If you have purchased cheese hardware from our Grotto collection, it usually takes us 1 to 3 business days to ship your order, unless otherwise listed on the respective product page.
Cheese Orders
As the cheeses are a fresh product, we want to ensure the quickest transit time as possible, so your order arrives in the best possible condition. Express shipping costs range from $25 - $55 depending on the package size, delivery window, location and carrier. We ship Mondays only each week, and orders must be placed by Thursday the week prior to be included in Monday's shipments. If you purchased a cheese subscription with a set shipping schedule (Meet the Makers or any Gift Subscription), please refer to the respective product page for the fixed shipping schedule.
Please note: cheese ships from our cheese warehouse and hardware ships from our hardware warehouse. If you are purchasing both hardware and cheese, there will be a shipping charge for the cheese portion of your order.
International Orders
We are sorry, but we aren't legally allowed to ship cheese across the US border! We can, however, ship our hardware from our Grotto collection worldwide. Please note that the shipping costs options you see at checkout do not include customs, duties, and taxes which will be billed to you upon reaching the border, and will be an additional expense. Those costs vary from country to country, but we recommend calculating at an additional 20% charge. If you refuse the package due to these additional fees and the hardware is returned to us, we will be able to issue a refund minus the outbound and return shipping costs.
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