This recipe is a super indulgent rich creamy macaroni cheese, definitely not, for those counting calories. It makes quite a large quantity, serves 6-8 as a main course or 10-12 as a side dish, it is an ideal dish for making in bulk, splitting into portions and freezing in foil containers for a quick easy supper, it can be cooked from frozen. Adapted from Rick Stein's The Road to Mexico, if you are interested in buying this book or other Rick Stein books, please click on the links.
Ingredients:
125g butter
125g plain flour
1 heaped tbsp dijon mustard
1200ml whole milk
100ml double cream
2 bay leaves
450g grated mature cheddar
200g pancetta or bacon lardons
500g dried macaroni
Grated nutmeg
Black pepper
3 handfuls fresh or dried breadcrumbs
1 handful grated fresh parmesan cheese
Butter for greasing baking dish or tins
1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over a gently heat/Aga simmering ring, add flour and mix well, cook for a couple of minutes to cook flour out, add mustard, then remove from heat.
125g butter, 125g plain flour, 1 heaped tbsp dijon mustard |
2. Gradually add milk and cream whisking constantly to ensure there are no lumps, when all the milk and cream has been added, add bay leaves.
1200ml whole milk, 100ml double cream, 2 bay leaves |
3. Return pan to heat and whisking all the time slowly heat until it thickens and starts to bubble. Remove from heat, remove bay leaves and add cheese stirring until cheese has melted into sauce. Season with grated nutmeg and lots of freshly ground black pepper
450g grated mature cheddar, a few good rasps of freshly grated nutmeg, freshly ground black pepper |
4. In a frying pan fry pancetta or bacon lardons over high heat/Aga boiling plate until crisp, add to cheese sauce.
200g pancetta or bacon lardons |
5. Cook macaroni in boiling salted water (1 1/2 tbsps salt, see note) for 10 mins, strain reserving some of the pasta water.
500g dried macaroni, 1 1/2 tbsps salt |
6. Add cooked macaroni to cheese sauce mixing well, the pasta will start to soak up some of the sauce, the sauce needs to be very runny to achieve a nice runny sauce after the final cook, to achieve this, add a ladle of the pasta cooking water which will make the final sauce glossy and unctuous. Butter the inside of a baking dish big enough to hold all the pasta if making a very large serving. (split between buttered foil trays for freezing)
7. Combine breadcrumbs and parmesan in a small bowl, then sprinkle evenly over surface of macaroni mixture. Cook at 200˚C/Aga roasting oven (grid shelf on floor) for 25-30 mins (45-50 mins if frozen) until golden on top.
3 handfuls breadcrumbs, 1 handful freshly grated parmesan |
8. Serve with a green salad as a main course or serve as a side dish.
Notes:
When cooking pasta water should be quite salty, in The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, Marcella Hazan had this to say about salting pasta water: "For every pound of pasta (550g), put in no less than 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt. Add the salt when the water comes to a boil.
Cooking in an Aga: if your Aga runs very hot put the cold plain shelf above pasta to stop the cheese and breadcrumbs burning before the pasta is completely heated through, this is particularly important if cooking from frozen. If you have a 4-oven Aga cook in baking oven.
If you are interested in buying Rick Stein's The Road to Mexico or any other Rick Stein Cookery books, please click on the links, thank you, Jacqui.
"As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases."
Kommentare