mac and cheese
prep time: 25 mins cook time: 50 mins serves: 4 have i tried it yet: yes (I literally cook it all the time) vegan: no vegetarian: yes
allergens: milk in butter, milk and cheese, gluten in pasta swappable ingredients: dairy alternatives for butter, milk and cheese (please note that the fats in the alternatives may work differently to the dairy ones, so it may need some fine-tuning if you’re going to try this), choose gluten-free pasta
ingredients:
- 400g macaroni pasta - 2 onions (or 1 big one) - 4 garlic cloves, crushed - 1 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes - 1 tbsp English mustard - 100g butter - 50g plain flour - 400ml milk - 500g cheddar cheese, plus extra to go on top - Salt and pepper to taste
recipe:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C. 2. Start cooking the macaroni in a pan of salted water. 3. Melt 25g butter in the pan and tip the onion in. Once the onion has gone translucent, crush the garlic into the pan. 4. Add the chilli flakes and mustard, and stir until it’s all mixed in. Put the rest of the butter in the pan and let it melt. 5. Add the flour and stir - you should get a thick paste. 6. Stir in the milk slowly. Stir it in and gradually it should blend with the paste and look more like a smooth sauce. Make sure you get rid of any lumps of flour. 7. Once you have a smooth sauce, stir in the grated cheese, leaving some to go on top in the oven. 8. Combine the sauce with the pasta until it’s all covered, and transfer to an oven-proof dish. Cover with the rest of the cheese and cook for 20 mins until the cheese is golden brown.
