Baked Penne With Cheddar & Leeks

1/4 cup butter
2 leeks, chopped (white and pale green parts only)
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 1/2 cups milk
1 lb extra-sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
1 Tbs Dijon mustard
1 tsp hot pepper sauce
2 large eggs
1 lb penne pasta

1) Lightly butter 15x10x2 inch baking dish.
2) Melt 1/4 cup butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add leeks; stir to coat. Cover saucepan and cook until leeks are tender, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes (do not brown). Uncover saucepan; add flour. Stir 2 minutes. Add milk; bring to simmer, stirring often. Add cheese, mustard and pepper sauce. Stir until cheese melts. Remove from heat. Season cheese sauce to taste with salt.
3) Whisk eggs in medium bowl. Gradually whisk in 1 cup cheese sauce. (Careful when adding the hot cheese sauce to the eggs; you'll need to whisk the sauce in slowly so that the eggs don't curdle.) Stir egg mixture into cheese sauce in saucepan. Preheat oven to 400F.
4) Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain. Return to pot.
5) Stir cheese sauce into pasta in pot. Transfer to prepared baking dish. Bake pasta until cheese sauce is bubbling around edges and some ends of pasta are golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes. Serve hot.

Review: I've always been a fan of Cabot's Seriously Sharp cheddar, but not only does Idaho lack Cabot cheese, we can't find extra-sharp cheddar. So, we had to settle for plain old sharp, which just isn't the same. This dish was basically a fancy mac 'n cheese. The sauce was more than we needed, or had room for (a cup went down the drain). The dijon mustard adds an interesting flavor. I can imagine this would be AMAZING with extra-sharp cheese, but with sharp it was simply yummy.