I’ve eaten loads of macaroni cheese. There are recipes on the market that do issues like use cottage cheese as an alternative of sauce, insist that cheddar wants assist from obscure French associates, or enable solely 37g of macaroni per individual. For a traditional macaroni cheese you’ll be able to depend on, you’ll want to stand over a big pot of bechamel and personally load it with cheddar and a few key equipment.
Serves 5-6
macaroni 500g
unsalted butter 100g, plus 3 tbsp for the highest
plain flour 75g
milk 1.2 litres
mature cheddar cheese 275g, grated, plus 50g for the highest
English mustard 1 tbsp
nutmeg ½ tsp, freshly grated
breadcrumbs 50g
salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 180C fan/gasoline mark 6 and get some salted water boiling for the macaroni.
Cook dinner the macaroni for two minutes lower than the packet signifies, drain it and go away it to 1 facet, preserving again half a ladle of pasta water.
In the meantime, in a big saucepan, soften the 100g of butter over a medium warmth. When it’s melted, add the flour, and stir with a picket spoon till clean and fantastically beige. Add the milk little by little (about 100ml at a time). It’ll take you on an entire journey, thickening up earlier than it smooths again out once more. All it’s important to do is hold stirring. Change to a whisk if it helps. When you’ve added all of the milk, hold the sauce on the warmth and stir via the cheese, adopted by the mustard and nutmeg, after which salt and pepper to style.
Add the macaroni to the sauce, together with the pasta water, and stir till even. Tip this straight into a large, shallow oven dish, utilizing a versatile spatula to get to all of the sauce.
Soften the additional butter and blend it with the additional cheese and the breadcrumbs. Sprinkle this combine over the macaroni cheese.
Bake for about half-hour, till golden brown throughout.
From Carbs by Laura Goodman (Quadrille, £15)
