Ingredients:
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1 cup whole milk
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About 8 oz cheese of your choice, cut into 1/2" cubes (I prefer to use Jarlsberg and cheddar)
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1 tbsp corn starch
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1 box of pasta, preferrably elbow maccaroni, penne, or another small, hollow noodle, cooked.
Directions:
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Feel free to get moving on the other steps as it heats; they'll take a while.
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In a medium saucepan, heat milk and corn starch over low to medium heat, stirring frequently.
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Once corn starch is dissolved and mixture begins to to bubble (but never boiling - do NOT let the milk get to hot), whisk in cubes of cheese a few at a time.
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Once cheese melts into milk, forming a smooth, velvety sauce, turn off heat.
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Add pasta to a medium-sized casserole dish.
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Pour cheese sauce over pasta. Sitr until cheese is evenly distributed.
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Bake macaroni and cheese for about 20-25 minutes, or until top is golden brown and crispy.
For the record, I did not invent this recipe by any means. I learned it from my mother.
This mac, in all of its crunchy, gooey, cheesy glory, is Midwestern perfection. It's perhaps the most emblematic dish of my childhood, and the one I most readily associate with my mother's cooking.
When I think about what my mother cooks and the ways in which it has/hasn't changed over the years, I not only see evidence of her love, but traces of larger systems that work to determine the contents of my diet. In other words, when I look at the food my mom cooks, I notice the ways in which it has, to some extent, been pre-selected for her. And oftentimes, the people who made these decisions did not always have our best interests at heart. This sort of information is more than a little unnerving, and on more than one occasion, I've felt the need to forget this and other recipes from my childhood in order to "save myself."
However, I've sense realized that my mother's cooking is made up of more than simple nutrients, and consuming it does more than physically sustain me. Indeed, the true value of comfort food lies less in it's status as "food" and much more in its ability to soothe one's soul.
My complete essay on my journey to these and other delicious realizations (along with some less tasty ones) can be found here.