def: Macaroni and Cheese – Dish originated from England, consisting of pasta and cream.
Cheese lovers, wherever you are, this recipe is for you! A few important things to know before you dive into this recipe:
1) When we developed this recipe, we were in the middle of self-quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic: this means we could not get our hands on elbow macaroni pasta. The pasta we ended up using Voiello’s mafalde corte (ribbon shape, similar to lasagna but more narrow) pasta works just fine.
2) You will learn how to make a Roux, a Bechamel sauce and a Mornay sauce and you will be able to re-use these cooking techniques for many other recipes.
3) We only had one pasta pack to experiment on this recipe. The flavours works really well. We wish we had made a little more sauce, but rest assured, we adjusted the recipe accordingly.
It looks like there are a lot of steps but relax, if you put a little effort on the mise en place, you will realise how easy it is! Let’s get started.
“Mise en place” or “everything in its place” is the setup required before you start to cook.
For this recipe, the mise en place is pre-heat the oven at 170 C, boil some hot water for both the pasta and the dried mushrooms. Coat butter on the surface of the baking tray. Shred the cheese. Finally, weigh all the ingredients.
Place the tray in the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.
Carefully remove the tray from the oven, and serve immediately.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
Sauce:
- 36 g butter unsalted
- 40 g plain flour600 ml milk
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 cups cheddar
- 2 cups comté cheese
- 1 cup parmesan
- 30 g dried porcini (optional)
- 150 g bacon (the fattier the better :P)
Pasta:
- 500 g macaroni pasta (couldn’t get our hands on this type of pasta)
- 80 g butter unsalted
Topping:
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- 1 cup parmesan
- 1 garlic minced finely
- Rendered bacon fat
Method
Step 1
Preheat oven at 170C.
Step 2
Pour hot water onto the dried mushrooms and set aside (if you don’t like mushrooms, you can skip this step).
Step 3
Render the bacon until crispy.
Step 4
Strain the rendered bacon fat into a bowl.
Step 5
Soak the minced garlic into the bacon fat.
Step 6
Chop/tear the bacon into small pieces.
Step 7
Strain the soaked mushrooms and chop finely.
Step 8
Mix the oil from step 5 with parmesan and bread crumbs.
Step 9
Set aside. We will use this mix in step 21.
Step 10
Bring your pasta to a boil and cook as per the packet’s instructions.
Step 11
Strain the pasta into a bowl, add the butter and mix well. Set aside.
Step 12
Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Only when the butter is fully melted, add the flour.
Step 13
Mix the flour with the melted butter constantly. Pro tips: It’s important to mix well, otherwise you risk burning the bottom of the pan. Congratulations! You’ve just learnt how to make a roux 🙂
Step 14
Once the butter and the flour are well mixed, pour the milk in. Pro tips: if you use warm milk, you have better chance to prevent lumps to form, resulting in a silky sauce.
Step 15
You’ve just learnt how to make a Béchamel sauce! Add your spices to the mix and stir well for another 2 to 5 minutes.
Step 16
Consistency test: Run your finger on the back of the spoon. The sauce should be thick enough, not runny (be careful not to burn your finger).
Step 17
Now it’s time to add your shredded cheese and mix well. You’ve just learnt how to make a Mornay sauce!
Step 18
Once the cheese is fully melted, add your bacon and mushrooms. Mix well. Congrats your sauce is now ready!
Step 19
Pour your cooked pasta into the sauce. Mix well so the pasta is fully coated with the sauce.
Step 20
Pour your pasta into a baking tray.
Step 21
Cover the top with the bread crumb mix.
By creating an Account on our service, you agree to subscribe to newsletters, marketing or promotional materials and other information we may send. However, you may opt out of receiving any, or all, of these communications from us by following the unsubscribe link or instructions provided in any email we send.
You understand that your content (not including credit card information), may be transferred unencrypted and involve (a) transmissions over various networks; and (b) changes to conform and adapt to technical requirements of connecting networks or devices. Credit card information is always encrypted during transfer over networks.
