Macaroni & Cheese – Family's Favourite

My first recipe…

I was thinking – What do I post as my first recipe? Last night, when I saw how much P & V enjoyed their Macaroni & Cheese, the answer was very obvious. Macaroni & Cheese had to be my first recipe to post.

I like a simple no fuss recipe. Many people add garlic, herbs and other ingredients. I did try a lot of different versions. But in the end, this is the recipe I stuck to as P & V loved it.

I like make extra sauce and keep it in the fridge so its there for emergency dinners. I usually use it up in 7 – 10 days. If you want it only for the day, you might want to halve the ingredients.

Remember, its totally optional to use the oven. If you have a pan that can go into the oven from the hob, you might want to use that as it saves cleaning up an extra dish.



The final product - close-up

 Ingredients:

4 to 5 fistfuls – Macaroni – boiled in salted water till al-dante, drained
3 tbsp – Butter
3 tbsp – Plain White Flour
500 ml – Whole Milk (you can use semi skimmed – but it wont taste the same)
250 gms – Cheddar Cheese (I use the non-coloured one) – grated
2 to 3 tbsp – Bread Crumbs

Method:

1. Heat the butter in a pan. Once the butter melts, add the flour 1 tsp at a time stirring it all the time so no lumps are formed and the flour doesn’t burn.
2. Start pre-heating your oven to 220 C.
3. Once the flour is cooked / fried (you can tell once the nutty smell starts coming out), add the milk100 ml at a time, stirring briskly so the flour dissolves and no lumps are formed.
4. Let the milk thicken stirring occasionally.
5. Add the cheese 1 fistful at a time – again stirring all the time. Add about 200 gms cheese like this.
6. Once the cheese has melted, let the sauce thicken to the desired consistency.
7. Spread the pasta in an oven proof dish, pour in the required amount of sauce and mix well, sprinkle cheese, then sprinkle bread crumbs and put it in the oven for 30 mins. The crust should be a deep brown and bubbling. 



Before putting it in the oven



This is how I serve my son - his favourite food in his favourite bowl.

 In the last step, if you have made sauce only for the day and are using an oven proof pan, add the drained pasta, mix well, sprinkle cheese on top, then sprinkle bread crumbs and stick it in the oven for a 30 mins.

Alternatively, you can skip the oven bit. It tastes equally good. My son like the plain bit. So we eat the crust and take out the plain bit for him.

Hope you and your family enjoy this as much as we do.

C u soon…