Macaroni cheese

I actually have no idea how my mother's macaroni cheese tasted so good as a child.  There was one with bacon bits in and tomato on top for my dad and sisters, and one without the tomato for me.  I was very fussy!  It might have been a Delia recipe.

Hopefully there are some tips in here for beginner and advanced alike.  One addition could possibly be half a teaspoon of English mustard powder, which I think would be really nice in a cauliflower cheese sauce to be served with roast beef.

Macaroni cheese

Serves 2

25g butter

20g plain flour

300ml milk

decent handful of mature cheddar (has to be mature) plus more for on top

salt

ground white or cayenne pepper

squeeze of lemon juice (or white wine vinegar)

grating of nutmeg

200g macaroni or penne

The first thing to do is to boil the kettle for the pasta water.

Gently melt butter in a saucepan.  Add flour and cook gently for 1 minute, whisking.  It should bubble well but not brown at all.  Add the milk 1/3rd at a time, whisking and cooking after each addition until thickened.  Once all added simmer gently for a few minutes, whisking every now and then so it doesn't catch on the bottom.  At this point you can put the macaroni into a large volume of heavily salted boiling water.

Add the cheese to the sauce, bit of salt and pepper, squeeze of lemon and nutmeg if you have it.  You need to leave the macaroni very slightly underdone as it will continue to cook in the oven, so taste it constantly until ready.

The big secret is to have a generous amount of sauce for the amount of pasta... drain the pasta into a colander and add to the sauce.  Add only enough pasta from the colander to the sauce, mixing as you go, so that the proportions are right.  Use the pasta's cooking pot if the sauce saucepan is not large enough - but add the pasta in the same way and save what you don't need for something else.

Pour the contents into a gratin dish, sprinkle evenly with more cheese (or top with sliced tomatoes, parmesan and oil as per the photos below), salt and pepper the surface.  Bake at 180C for 20 minutes then finish browning it under the grill.

Last thing, let it cool for five minutes before serving.  Piping hot macaroni cheese tastes of very little.