Beemster Winner

I promised a few days ago to let you know how the Beemster cheese worked out in my mac and cheese dish; here's the review.

Note that I didn't have any elbow macaroni in the house so made do with this farfalle pasta. As the pasta cooked, I sauteed a chopped onion in a knob of butter until soft, then added about two tablespoons of flour, cooking it briefly to make the flour buttery, then gradually added about 1-1/2 cups milk and whisked to remove any lumps. To that white sauce, I added about 1/2 pound of shredded aged Beemster gouda cheese, stirring until it incorporated into the sauce. Draining the pasta briefly in a colander, I added it to the hot sauce, stirring to coat all the pasta. Let it cool; reheated before serving. For some reason, cooling it first really improves the flavor of mac and cheese.

And the Beemster? A complete and total success! It was rich, deep and cheesy, really tasty and satisfying, even better than cheddar. The heat mellowed the cheese a bit from its sharp and salty original state, and really brought out the aged flavor of the cheese. It didn't melt as easily as cheddar does but the extra stirring is well worth it when you enjoy the Beemster winner!