Macaroni Cheese - Pasta in Cheese Sauce
Macaroni Cheese
Mamta Gupta
This is a family favourite in our house. It can be made in bulk and frozen in suitably sized portions. Serves 4
*Strong cheeses work very well for this dish. I sometimes use leftover mix of cheeses from a dinner party cheeseboard.
Picture of boiling macaroni is missing here!
100 gm. serves 1 person approximately.
Ingredients
500 gm. macaroni pasta
500 gm. or 2 1/2 cup of mature cheddar or Red Leicester or a mix of cheese you have*.
100 gm. of other cheeses like blue cheese or parmesan or anything else that might be going slightly stale.
1.5 litre milk
60-80 gm. or 3-4 full tbsp. plain flour or Maida
1 tsp. Coleman's or similar mustard powder
1/4 tsp. ground pepper (or freshly ground)
1/2 tsp. chilli flakes, adjust to taste or omit
A sprinkling of freshly grated nutmeg (Jaiphal)
Salt to taste
For topping or garnish
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
2 tbsp. grated cheese, saved from the above amount
Instructions
Boil a large pan of water, add 1 tsp. salt and then macaroni. Continue to boil according to instructions on the packet. On average, this takes 8-10 minutes. It should be 'al dente'.
Grate cheese while macaroni is boiling and keep aside.
Strain macaroni in a colander and run cold water on it. otherwise it will keep cooking and get soggy and sticky.
Boil milk, except for 1/2 cup kept aside to mix with flour.
Add flour, mustard and pepper to this 1/2 cup of cold milk, mixing it well.
Add this mix to the boiling milk and keep stirring, until the sauce is thick like custard. Sometimes, you may need to add more flour than stated, to get the correct consistency. It should be like custard. Remove from heat.
Add grated cheese, saving 2-3 tbsp. for garnish. Mix it well. It will melt in quickly.
Add drained macaroni and mix well.
Transfer to a large serving dish, decorate with sliced tomatoes.
Sprinkle saved cheddar/red Leicester cheese, parmesan cheese on top evenly (and bread crumbs, if used).
Place in a hot oven at around 200C or 400F until it bubbles and the cheese on top gets brown blisters.
Serve hot. We eat it with chilli sauce in our house!
Notes
I often use a mix of any leftover cheeses like Mexican chilli cheese, Stilton, Parmesan, Red Leicester, Shropshire Blue, mature cheddar, Danish blue, Gloucester etc to give this dish a different flavour.
You can add a packet of frozen peas or other vegetables to the sauce.
You can garnish with thickly sliced cooked sausages.
