Introduction
Macaroni and cheese is short pasta in a creamy cheese sauce, baked until the top is crisp. It is pure comfort food for cold evenings and a reliable dish for children and big tables.
Pasta baked with cheese appears in English cookbooks from the Middle Ages onwards, and an 18th-century recipe by Elizabeth Raffald already pairs macaroni with a cream sauce and Parmesan. In the United States it became a national dish, and in 1937 a boxed version made it everyday food. This oven-baked version starts with a white sauce (béchamel) and uses a strong Cheddar. Many Cheddars are made with vegetarian rennet; check the label.
Ingredients
- 300 g macaroni or other short pasta
- 50 g butter
- 50 g flour
- 700 ml milk
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- a pinch of grated nutmeg
- 200 g mature Cheddar, grated
- salt and black pepper
- 30 g breadcrumbs, for the top
Tools
- A large pot and a colander
- A saucepan and a whisk
- A baking dish of about 20 × 30 cm
- An oven
- A grater
Preparation
- Heat the oven to 200 °C (180 °C fan).
- Cook the pasta in salted boiling water for 2 minutes less than the packet says. Drain.
- Melt the butter in the saucepan over a medium heat. Add the flour and whisk for one minute.
- Pour in the milk little by little, whisking all the time so no lumps form. Simmer for 5 minutes, whisking, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
- Take it off the heat and stir in the mustard, nutmeg and three quarters of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper.
- Mix the pasta into the sauce and pour it into the dish. Scatter over the rest of the cheese and the breadcrumbs.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until bubbling and golden. Rest 5 minutes before serving.