Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Baked Macaroni and Cheese
5th March, 2017

This to me is Americana on a plate. I grew up eating this dish and when I became a Dad I made sure my child would also grow up eating this as well

We sometimes add in some fried off bacon to the cheese sauce

Ingredients

300g Macaroni

1 Onion, finely chopped

Sunflower Oil

50g Butter

1 Clove Garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp English Mustard

1 tbsp Plain Flour

150 mls Milk

200g Cheddar Cheese, grated

For the breadcrumb topping

25g Butter

3 slices white bread

Method

Boil the pasta in salted water under nearly done (about 6 minutes). You still want it al dente as the paste will be baked. When ready, rinse in cold water to stop the pasta cooking and drain.

Put the oil and butter in a saucepan large enough to contain the cheese sauce and melt the butter

Add the onions and fry on a medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and English mustard and fry for a minute.

Add the flour and stir constantly to make a thick paste. Cook the paste for a few minutes

Gradually pour in the milk and keep stirring as to remove lumps. The sauce should be looser/thinner than a standard white sauce. If you need more milk as it's too thick then gradually add some extra

Remove the sauce pan from the heat and add the grated Cheddar cheese. Stir until the sauce is smooth and thickened

Butter a baking dish large enough to hold the pasta and cheese sauce. Add the pasta and then pour over the cheese sauce to cover. Give the pasta and sauce a quick stir to makwe sure it's all incorporated

Blitz the sliced bread in a blender to make fresh bread crumbs.

Melt the butter in a saucepand and when melted, pour in the breadcrumbs, remove from the heat and stir until the butter has coated the breadcrumbs evenly

Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the pasta and cheese sauce dish. Cover with tin foil

To serve, heat the oven to 180C and cook the dish for 30 minutes. After this time, remove the tin foil and cook again for another 10 minutes to crisp the breadcrumbs