Mac ‘n’ Cheese is a great blank canvas, hence why a Mac n Cheese bar is so popular at festivals and other pop up events these days. Master the basics, then you can start sprinkling on interesting toppings. The only advice I’d give is that ‘crunchy’ should probably be the focus. Dried onion crisps, crumbled slow grilled streaky bacon, or breadcrumbs toasted with herbs or nuts all work brilliantly – but then so does a hulking great dollop of pulled pork, so the world is your lobster (which coincidentally is also fantastic in a mac and cheese!).
The basic recipe is easy, just try to avoid those crappy small macaroni tubes that supermarket’s seem to stock. If you can’t find ‘elbow’ macaroni, then try to pick a bendy tube based shape that’s as close as possible. This from Tesco is what I like.
The below will make loads – it’s based on an entire packet of macaroni. I have deliberately not included measures for some things below – you know what the final outcome should be like, so put as much in as you judge is needed, season, taste, add more cheese!
[alert type=”muted” close=”false” heading=”Ingredients”] [icon_list] [icon_list_item type=”check”] 500g Elbow macaroni [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”check”] Diced pancetta (or thick cut streaky bacon) [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”check”] Garlic [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”check”] Cheddar [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”check”] Gruyere (or a second cheese of your choice) [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”check”] Cream cheese [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”check”] Sour cream [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”check”] Mustard [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”check”] Worcester sauce [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”check”] Nutmeg [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”check”] Bart’s Cajun rub (or similar sort of thing) [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”check”] 50g Flour [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”check”] 50g Butter [/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”check”] 1 pint quality full fat milk [/icon_list_item] [/icon_list] [/alert]Method
- Cut the garlic in half across the cloves, drizzle with oil, then wrap tightly in tin foil and roast in a medium oven for half hour or so
- Boil your pasta in salty water for 5 mins or so, until it is al dente, when ready drain the water, rinse and stir in a large slug of olive oil to stop it sticking.
- Melt 50g of butter in a pan and add about the same in flour, mix and cook out the flour in this roux for a couple of minutes
- Add a splash of milk, cook and stir to make a paste, continue to add the milk bit by bit, stirring and making a thick sauce.
- Add the cheddar and secondary cheese, nutmeg, spices and the mushed garlic from one of the roasted halves.
- Fry the pancetta cubes or diced bacon in a separate pan, then add this to the sauce
- Now, add as much pasta into the sauce as is needed to maintain a generous ratio of sauce to pasta. Season heavily with lots of cracked pepper and stir until well mixed.
- Remove from the heat and mix in half the tub of cream cheese, a few dashes of Worcester sauce, a teaspoon of mustard and half a tub of sour cream.
At this point you may want to dish into smaller containers, grate over some parmesan and grill on a high heat until the top starts bubbling. Alternatively, mix said parmesan with some panko breadcrumbs for a more ‘gratin’ style topping, but take it on first hand experience – don’t grill breadcrumbs on high!!!
[alert type=”info” close=”false” heading=”Consider this…”] [icon_list] [icon_list_item type=”lightbulb-o”] Top with a rosemary pangritata – essentially a toasted breadcrumb mix that’s pre-toasted and tossed with chopped rosemary, walnuts, a bit of olive oil and maybe some lemon zest.[/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”lightbulb-o”] If topping with a crumbled bacon, know that bacon will go most crispy when grilled on a low heat – once cooled you should be able to break it up with your fingers like a packet of frazzles![/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”lightbulb-o”] Chorizo or a cured Italian sausage cut into very small bits and fried – how about that on the top [amazing!].[/icon_list_item] [icon_list_item type=”lightbulb-o”] Chives, spring onion or fresh herb such as curly parsley all look fantastic when finely chopped and sprinkled on top.[/icon_list_item] [/icon_list] [/alert]