It’s no secret among my friends and family that I love cheese. LOVE IT. So, making an entire dish based on cheese and carbs? I am THERE. I’m not American, so maybe my friends over the other side of the pond may disagree with this recipe, seeing as it’s their baby. But I think this is a pretty good recipe. It’s cheesy, creamy, and indulgent. What’s not to love?! You can eat this dish purely as it is or add other things to it. I chose ham and cauliflower. Your call.
Mac and cheese is one of those delights in life that is meant to be pure, fattening comfort food. Don’t try to make this ‘healthy’. Just don’t. We need butter, cheese, whole milk, cream … all the things!
Ingredients & Method
- Approx. 250 g macaroni pasta
- 50 g unsalted butter
- 2-3 tbs plain flour
- 400-500 ml whole milk or oat milk (just as creamy)
- 100 ml double/heavy cream
- 170 g grated mature cheddar cheese (don’t buy the awful pre-grated stuff, just do it yourself)
- Any other add-ins you want (e.g. ham, chicken, cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, sky’s the limit)
- Parmesan for garnishing
- Salt pepper
- Preheat your oven to 200 C / Gas 6 / 400 F. Put your chosen baking dish onto a larger tray in preparation for the pasta bake – you’ll thank yourself later for using an extra tray when your mac and cheese bubbles deliciously over the sides of your dish. Boil your pasta according to packet instructions. Drain in a colander and set aside.
- In another saucepan, melt your butter and mix in the flour with a wooden spoon gradually until it creates a paste-like consistency that comes away from the surface of the saucepan. Cook off for 30 seconds or so. Now, swap your wooden spoon for a balloon whisk and pour in your milk, whisking constantly. Add half of the milk to start with. Whisk, whisk, whisk until you have a thick creamy sauce. Add the rest of your milk, whisking to combine once more. You should now have a large batch of white béchamel sauce. Add in 2/3 of your grated cheese (eyeballing it is fine here) and stir into your sauce until melted. Season with salt and pepper and allow the sauce to bubble gentle for a couple more minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in your double or heavy cream.
- Now is the time to prepare any extras you want to add in. Don’t pre-cook any vegetables because they’ll cook through fine in the oven. If you’re adding any meat like chicken or sausage, make sure it’s cooked before adding to the sauce and pasta (pretty obvious but thought I’d mention it).
- Add your cooked pasta into the cheese sauce along with your add-ins and mix it all together until well combined. Pour into your prepared dish, sprinkle with the remaining cheddar cheese and bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the top is golden and the mac and cheese is bubbling. Allow to stand for a couple of minutes and then serve. Grate over some parmesan cheese to add to the cheesiness. Eat the whole plate of mac and cheese and have no regrets whatsoever.
Baking Cupboard Journal 