Roasted Garlic Mac and Cheese

Original Photo and Recipe

Annie's Eats is a great blog.  I don't think I have ever made something from Annie that wasn't just awesome, and this is no exception.  Holy moly is this good.  I did miscalculate and didn't realize that I had to have time to roast the garlic, so I had to just use my prepared garlic from a bottle (shhh) but it was still great.

Roasted Garlic Mac and Cheese
Serves: 6
Approx. 350 calories per serving

• 1 head garlic
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 12 oz. dry pasta
• 3 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 3 cups milk
• ¼ tsp. dried parsley
• ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
• 8 oz. garlic cheddar or white cheddar cheese, shredded
• 4 oz. crumbled garlic and herb boursin cheese, divided
• Salt and pepper
• Snipped chives, for garnish (optional)

To roast the garlic, preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Remove most of the outer paper skins from the head of garlic, leaving it intact. Slice off the top portion of the head so that all of the cloves are exposed at the top, but the head is still intact. Rub with a bit of olive oil. Place the head of garlic on a piece of foil and loosely fold the foil up around the head of garlic to create a foil packet. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until the cloves are easily squeezed from the skins (be sure to let cool before handling!) Squeeze all of the garlic out of the skins and smash with a fork to make a paste.

Increase the oven temperature to 400˚ F. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook the pasta until about 2 minutes shy of al dente according to the package directions. Drain in a colander. Return the pasta to the pot and set aside. Meanwhile in a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour and the roasted garlic paste and cook, stirring constantly, until light golden, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk, dried parsley, and cayenne. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce comes to a low boil and thickens noticeably. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cheddar and about 3 ounces of the boursin. Whisk until the cheese is completely melted. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the sauce over the drained pasta and toss to coat well. Transfer to a lightly greased 2 quart baking dish and top with the remaining boursin. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the top is browned and the cheese is bubbling. Let cool at least 5-10 minutes before serving. Top with snipped chives for garnish, if desired.