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Notes: You can vary the cheese amount depending on how its packaged at your store.
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Its not exact!
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Also, I use 1% milk because its already plenty rich with all the cheese.
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Marinate the chicken in the sauce ahead of time.
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I didnt include marinating time in the prep time!
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Prep ahead of time: Cut chicken breasts into very small pieces.
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Toss in a bowl with enough buffalo sauce to coat plus a little extra, and let sit for at least an hour.
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Stir it every now and then.
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The chicken will start to look like its just slightly cooked; thats the acid denaturing the proteins.
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Its normal.
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Cooking: Simmer the whole bowlful in a pan, sauce and all, on medium heat until the chicken is cooked.
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Drain the cooked sauce/chicken liquid from the chicken and toss the chicken bits with a little more buffalo sauce.
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Set this aside to cool some while you do the sauce and pasta.
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Shred the extra sharp cheddar, Monterey jack and crumble the blue cheese into a big mixing bowl.
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Set aside about a half cup of the cheeses in a separate bowl to make the topping later.
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Stir the rest in the big bowl together with sour cream and some black pepper to taste.
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Heat the oven to 350F.
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Start a pot of boiling salted water for the pasta.
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In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat and when melted, whisk in the flour.
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Keep whisking while it cooks and bubbles for about 2 minutes.
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(This is called a roux.)
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Whisk the milk into this mixture and stir often.
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When the mixture is starting to get hot, put the pasta in the boiling pot to cook for about 8 minutes.
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During this time, keep whisking the milk sauce until its thickened.
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(At this point, youve now made a bechamel sauce!)
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Mix the sauce into the cheese and sour cream in the big bowl and stir well to get the cheese mostly mixed into the sauce.
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Stir in the pasta.
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Fold in the chicken.
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Pour into a 13x9 casserole pan.
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Using a fork, mix the breadcrumbs, the small bowl of cheese and a drizzle of buffalo sauce, adding more sauce as needed until it has a crumbly texture.
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Sprinkle this topping over the macaroni and cheese.
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Bake for about a half hour or until the sauce is bubbling around the edges and the topping is starting to get browned.
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Makes 6-8 servings, depending on how hungry your family is!
