Penne & Cheese

I intended to cook macaroni & cheese but it was so difficult to find macaroni in Copenhage (I wonder why), so ended up with penne. The recipe was merely ok, perhaps due to my cheese selection. Anyway, here's a simple penne & cheese recipe (for 4 servings), sorry for the unit of measurement, I'm too lazy to convert it again & don't have my well converted printed recipe with me now:-

1 lb penne
4 cups milk
6 tblsp. flour
4 tblsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
8 oz. white cheddar cheese
breadcrumbs (forget to do the measurement :p)

1. Bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook at a rolling boil until just tender. Drain. Rinse. Set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (180 degree Celcius).

3. Bring the milk to just a boil in a heavy saucepan. Set aside.

4. Melt the butter in another pan. Add the flour and whisk over low heat for about 5 minutes. Do not brown. Remove from the heat.

5. Add the butter mixture to the milk and whisk well to get rid of lumps. Season with salt and pepper. Return to heat.

6. Cook the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly until it's smooth and it thickens. Add in 2/3 of the cheese & cook until it melts.

7. Add mixture to the pasta and coat. Spread the remaining grated cheese over the top of the pasta.

8. Sprinkle the top with some bread crumbs. Bake for 25 minutes. Then, place dish under the broiler (about 4 inches away from heat) and cook for another few minutes until slightly golden.

Adapted from http://achowlife.blogspot.com/2008/11/surrender-to-mac-n-cheese.html