Ok, so if you live in Hous­ton, please don’t tell my mama that I made backed mac­a­roni and cheese with­out using yel­low cheese. We South­ern­ers love our mac ‘n cheese. So much that you will find it on the menu of many high-end restau­rants — of course it will be made using truf­fles, aged Gouda  or some other type of arti­san cheese. Tip: In Texas, if you make mac­a­roni and cheese with processed cheese, you are not allowed to call it mac­a­roni and cheese or mac ‘n cheese; you have made “cheesy pasta”. I digress.

This my is first attempt at some type of arti­sanal mac n’ cheese so there I did not include the tra­di­tional yel­low ched­dar. But I love yel­low… it brings back mem­o­ries of my col­lege days , mak­ing it off of $25/week in gro­cery. I needed some yel­low.. ahhh dry mus­tard. So here’s the dish. I hope you enjoy.

8 oz. Pipette Rigate or Pipe Rigate (I found that the smaller pipette will be cheesier)

Pipe Rigate

4 oz but­ter
1/8 tsp nut­meg
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp. black pep­per
1/ tsp dry yel­low mus­tard
2 tbsp. sour cream
6oz milk
3 oz aged Gruyère
3 oz sharp ched­dar
1/4 cup panko

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Bring a large saucepan to boil. Add a 1/4 tsp salt and tea­spoon of oil. Add the 8 oz of rigate and cook until al dente, about 11–12 minutes.

In a sep­a­rate bowl shred the 2 cheeses and mix together.

In a sep­a­rate bowl, add but­ter, sour cream, nut­meg, salt,  black pep­per, and dry mus­tard. After the pasta is cooked, drain it, then add it to the bowl. Gen­tly mix in the pasta.

Add a layer of pasta to an oven safe pan. Add 1/3 of the cheese over the layer. Add another layer of the pasta and cover with the remain­ing cheese, then shake panko over the top. Put in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

After 10 min­utes, switch the oven to broil at 450 degrees and broil for 5 min­utes. Remove from oven allow to cool. Serve and enjoy