I can't believe it's taken me this long to include the good old Mac & Cheese. This is another winter favourite in our household. If you want to get a little fancy with this dish, you can replace some of the tasty cheese with blue cheese or another strong-flavoured variety, or even a combination.
Ingredients:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Cook the pasta as per the packet instructions. Drain well. Chuck the bread into a food processor (if you have one) and pulse it to make course crumbs. If you don't have a food processor, just cut them up as fine as you can. It'll give it a rustic look, which is <em>soooo</em> in these days.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. When the butter starts to sizzle, stir in the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute, or until pale and bubbly. Remove from the heat and slowly stir in the milk until smooth. Return to the heat and cook, stirring, until the mixture starts to boil and thicken. Remove from the heat and whisk in the mustard and egg yolk. Stand for 5 minutes to cool slightly then stir in the cheese until smooth. Stir in the pasta and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Spoon the pasta into a greased 2.25 litre oven-proof dish, measuring about 18 x 30 x 6 cm. Put the breadcrumbs and parsley in a bowl, drizzle with the olive oil and toss to combine. Sprinkle evenly over the pasta mixture. Bake for 35 minutes, or until golden.
Eat as is, or serve with a green salad if you want to be fancy.
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| Image stolen from neighborfoodblog.com |
Ingredients:
- 300g macaroni
- 2 slices country or sourdough bread, crusts trimmed
- 50g butter
- 35g plain (all-purpose) flour
- 875ml milk
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 egg yolk
- 125g grated tasty cheese*
- 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, to drizzle
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Cook the pasta as per the packet instructions. Drain well. Chuck the bread into a food processor (if you have one) and pulse it to make course crumbs. If you don't have a food processor, just cut them up as fine as you can. It'll give it a rustic look, which is <em>soooo</em> in these days.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. When the butter starts to sizzle, stir in the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute, or until pale and bubbly. Remove from the heat and slowly stir in the milk until smooth. Return to the heat and cook, stirring, until the mixture starts to boil and thicken. Remove from the heat and whisk in the mustard and egg yolk. Stand for 5 minutes to cool slightly then stir in the cheese until smooth. Stir in the pasta and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Spoon the pasta into a greased 2.25 litre oven-proof dish, measuring about 18 x 30 x 6 cm. Put the breadcrumbs and parsley in a bowl, drizzle with the olive oil and toss to combine. Sprinkle evenly over the pasta mixture. Bake for 35 minutes, or until golden.
Eat as is, or serve with a green salad if you want to be fancy.