Mac and Cheese recipe
The ultimate and most delicious Mac and Cheese recipe you’ll ever need.
Mac and cheese, the ultimate comfort food that is suitable at all times of the year. Who doesn’t love Mac & Cheese? Actually, to be fair, you do get some real doozies out there today. It’s actually offensive. And not to toot our own horns but, our mac and cheese is probably the yummiest macaroni cheese we have had. The restaurants honestly do not have anything on us. We have witnesses that can attest to this too. So you delicious readers are in for a real treat. Be prepared for an explosion of amazingness in your mouth. Let the cheesiness trickle down your tastebuds.
So, we’re going to be real here. It was super hard to write up this post because:
a) do we actually wanna give our signature secret recipe away? And
b) we never measure anything and usually wing it,
Having to not do that and be more aware about measurements for you guys was a challenge for us. Also I’m joking about giving our signature secret recipe. That’s just not us. We aren’t like that. All we ask is that you think of us every time you think about, make and eat this mac and cheese please.
What is a roux?
It is flour and fat cooked together. This is usually made by adding equal parts of fat and flour. The flour is added to the melted fat.
For the cheese sauce in our dish, the chosen fat of choice is good old butter. We start with one heaped tablespoon of butter and then add in one tablespoon of flour, then we add more, ensuring that it is always equal fat to butter. You may want to add another tablespoon of each, or you may not. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t; this is also what we mean by us usually winging it!
How do I know when my cheese sauce is ready?
As soon as the flour and butter come together to form a dough-like mixture, we pour in the milk and then the cream. Then we whisk, whisk, whisk. The cream and roux will come together and thicken quite quickly so keep adding more cream as and when you need it. If you feel like you’ve poured in too much, fret not as the cheese will thicken the mixture.
Can I substitute some of the Mac and Cheese ingredients?
Carb alternative: Substitute half of your macaroni with cut up cauliflower florets that have been lightly boiled. Completely swap out the pasta for macaroni for a cauliflower cheese dish.
Dairy Free: Try our vegan mac and cheese by using our cashew cream sauce as a substitute for the cheese sauce.
Tips
Heres a tip before you get started. Get all your ingredients out and grate that cheese, have that milk cap off and ready to hand. Where’s your whisk at? Make sure it’s right next to you son. Why do we advise this, do you ask? Well, you’re going to need a quick hand at the beginning; once that butter is melted, quickly chuck in your flour and mix until you have a roux.
| Prep Time | 25 minutes |
| Cook Time | 10 minutes |
| Servings |
people
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- 400 g macaroni pasta or other
- 2 tbs butter
- 2 tbs plain flour
- salt
- pepper
- 150 ml milk preferably whole milk
- 350 ml double cream
- 350-400 g mature cheddar cheese or cheese of choice
Ingredients
Macaroni & Cheese Base
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- Preheat the oven to 200/180 fan on the grill option.
- Make your breadcrumb topping so it’s ready to sprinkle once the mac and cheese is in your chosen dish. If you aren’t going for a topping, skip this step. To create the breadcrumbs, pick apart your chosen bread into little crumbs in a bowl. Mince your garlic or cut up very finely.
- Mix the breadcrumbs, oils, garlic and herbs together thoroughly. Once all the breadcrumbs are coated your topping is ready. Set aside.
- Bring some water to a boil in a saucepan with some salt. Add your macaroni and cook until al dente. Drain and set aside.
- While your pasta is cooking you can make the roux for your sauce. Add your butter to a saucepan on low-medium heat until melted but not bubbling.
- Pour in a tablespoon of flour and vigorously mix with a whisk. Add in the second tablespoon and continue to whisk until a thick mixture is formed.
- Speedily pour in ½ of the milk, ensuring you are whisking throughout. At this point the mixture should thicken quite quickly so mixing will prevent any lumps from forming. Add the rest of the milk slowly until you get a smooth silky sauce.
- Slowly add the cream in the same way, continuously whisking. Once the cream is incorporated, add handfuls of cheese and stir until fully melted. Keep adding handfuls until you have put it 250-300g (depending on the consistency you prefer).
- Season with pepper. If you are not making the breadcrumb topping you can also add in some garlic granules here, or other spices like mustard powder, onion powder, turmeric etc.
- When you feel like you have the right consistency of your sauce and feel it's cheesy enough, take it off the heat. If you feel like your sauce is too thin, add some more cheese to thicken it. If the sauce has reached the cheesiness you desire then add a little bit of sifted flour. When the the sauce is too thick, just add in a splash more milk. The main thing is to make sure you keep tasting your sauce and alter it to how you like it. Remember this is just a base for you to develop.
- Pour the sauce and the partially cooked macaroni together and mix until the pasta is well coated with the sauce. We personally like a bit more sauce to pasta ratio as the sauce will thicken and reduce in the oven.
- Transfer the pasta and sauce into an ovenproof dish. Top with remaining cheese (or if you need to grate more then do this and then top) then follow with the breadcrumbs.
- Pop into the oven on grill setting for 10 minutes or until breadcrumbs are golden brown. Alternatively you can cook in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, we prefer grilling as the sauce doesn’t thicken up as much.
- Remove from the oven and enjoy.
