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Macaroni Cheese

Image of Macaroni Cheese

Preparation time: 1 hours

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4

Scale to servings

Adapted from: BBC Food (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Fizz Carr)

The main problem with this recipe is getting the milk mix to not stick to the saucepan while it's bubbling - use a good non-stick pan. If the roux is too solid, add more butter before adding the milk to avoid it going lumpy.

Ingredients
  • 175 g strong cheddar, grated
  • 300 g macaroni
  • 50 g unsalted butter
  • 40 g plain flour
  • 750 ml milk, warm
  • 1 bay leaf
  • black pepper, to taste
  • salt, to taste
  • ¼ tsp cayenne pepper (or more, to taste)
  • Optional - 4 servings of broccoli or cauliflower
Method
  1. Boil the macaroni for 2 minutes less than what's mentioned on the packet. If you're adding the cauliflower, boil that now too.
  2. Grease a 22cm×22cm oven dish with butter.
  3. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the flour to make a roux.
  4. Add the milk into the roux gradually to form the sauce.
  5. Add the bay leaf.
  6. Boil the sauce briefly, then simmer for five minutes, stirring constantly to avoid having the mix stick to the bottom of the pan.
  7. Add the black pepper, salt, cayenne pepper, cheddar, cauliflower and macaroni to the sauce, in that order.
  8. Empty into the oven dish and bake for 20 minutes at 200°C