MegaCheese Casserole

This is another recipe that Matt and I came up with from whatever was in the fridge. We had a lot of cheese. Like 8 different kinds. I guess for the last while everything we have made with cheese in it had a different cheese in it. So the solution to this problem was an extremely delicious one. If you don't have a million ends of cheeses in your fridge I'm sure 3 or 4 would work just fine.

Ingredients:

1 cup Aged Cheddar
1 cup Gouda
1 cup Havarti
1/4 cup Parmesan
1/4 cup Romano
1/4 cup Swiss cheese
1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
28 g or a healthy handful of fresh thyme, leaves picked
500 g of pasta (bow tie, fusilli, rigantoni or the 'odd ball shape' that we used
1 cup pasta water
2 tbsp butter
3 heaping tbsp flour
1 & 1/4 cup milk
3-4 garlic cloves, fine sliced
500 g cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half
sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F.
2. Grate all your cheese. Make sure the cheddar, gouda and havarti are in one bowl, and then the parmesan, romano and swiss are in another bowl.
3. Chop tomatoes in half, place in a bowl and season with sea salt and pepper.
4. Fine slice your garlic and set aside. Pick all your thyme leaves and set aside.
5. Boil your pasta until just before al dente. It will cook more in the oven. Make sure to RESERVE PASTA WATER and don't forget like we always do.
6. Grease a big casserole pan.
7. Now that all your prep is done, 100% of your attention will be devoted to the roux. Heat a frying pan to medium heat, melt the butter in it. Add your sliced garlic.
8. Slowly add flour to the butter, whisking the entire time. Once you've added all your flour, it should be a thick paste, and the garlic should be golden brown.
9. Reduce heat to medium low.
10. Start slowly, very slowly, adding the milk to the paste, whisking all the time.
11. Make sure that you are constantly whisking and that the paste is becoming a thick sauce.
12. Now that the roux is very rich, thick sauce, you can add to a big mixing bowl your pasta, pasta water, roux, seasoned cherry tomatoes, thyme, cheddar, gouda and havarti. Mix until well combined. Have a taste and season with salt and pepper again, if needed.
13. Pour the pasta mixture into the casserole pan and spread out evenly.
14. Evenly sprinkle the bread crumbs over the surface. Sprinkle over the surface your parmesan, romano and Swiss cheese.
15. Put in oven and cook for 25 minutes or until the top is a lovely golden brown and all bubbly.
16. Eat it! Mmm, now I am regretting now having this with a pickle. A pickle would have been the perfect acidic complement to the creamy goodness.