If cheese were a person, we’d marry it and have its babies. So when Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, a new 8,000-square-foot shop/factory/restaurant, finally opened in Flatiron, we ran to the altar. To showcase its heavenliness, we filmed a few editors scarfing down the good stuff and procured the recipe for what is arguably the restaurant’s most famous dish.
Beecher’s World’s Best Mac and Cheese
Serves ten
Ingredients
12 oz. good-quality penne pasta
4 tbsp. butter
1/3 c. flour
3 c. milk
14 oz. Beecher’s Flagship Cheese, grated
2 oz. Monterey Jack, grated
½-1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. chipotle chile powder
½ tsp. garlic powder
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish and set aside.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Cook penne for 2 minutes less than recommended on the package. Rinse in cold water; set aside. Pasta should still have a slight crunch.
3. Melt butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat; whisk in flour. Continue whisking and cooking for 2 minutes.
4. Slowly add milk, whisking constantly until sauce has thickened (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat.
5. Add cheeses (reserve 2 ounces to top final dish), salt to taste, half of the chile powder, and all of the garlic powder. Stir until cheese has melted and all ingredients are well incorporated (about 3 minutes).
6. In a medium bowl, mix together cooked pasta and sauce gently but thoroughly. Pour pasta into prepared baking dish; sprinkle with remaining cheese and chile powder.
7. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, 900 Broadway, at 20th Street (212-466-3340 or beechershandmadecheese.com).
