Macaroni and Cheese
Elbow pasta folded into a cheddar béchamel and baked under a crumb crust, the comfort dish of American kitchens.
Photo: Dave Walker · CC BY 2.0
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 35 min
- Total
- 50 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
Method
- Boil the macaroni for 2 minutes less than the packet says. It finishes cooking in the oven.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and stir for 2 minutes without letting it colour.
- Pour in the milk in three additions, whisking after each until the sauce turns smooth again.
- Let it thicken for 6 minutes over medium heat, then take the pan off the heat before the cheese goes in.
- Stir in 250 g of the cheddar off the heat, along with the mustard, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
- Fold the drained pasta into the sauce and tip it into a buttered dish.
- Cover with the remaining cheddar and the breadcrumbs. Bake at 200°C for 20 minutes, then grill for 3 minutes.
Cheese belongs in the sauce off the heat. Above 80°C its proteins tighten and squeeze out the fat, which is what turns a sauce grainy and slick.
