Mac & cheese

olaola

All this chat of comfort food has me craving mac & cheese!

I've never made it before, saw a yummy looking one on Market Kitchen (Merilees Parker made it). Has anyone got any foolproof recipies?

lucylu

what is a mac? ... Big Mac??

xzanti

Yeah, what is that stuff?? It's a very American dish, is it not?? Sounds yummy..

Do post your findings..

Fajitas!

It's very very cheesey pasta...

We used to get it when driving around Spain - All the roadside diners used to serve it. It can be nice, or it can be 'yeeeuch'. It's very gooey and heavy for a pasta sauce.

But I've not made it myself. I reckon homemade stuff could be good

biddywiddy

I've actually never had Mac and Cheese until I came across this recipe. Here's the recipe I use - it's from Delia Smith's Frugal Food - and she calls it Macaroni au Gratin, so perhaps it's not 'true' Mac and Cheese? I think it's really tasty, but there could be better versions of this out there.

macaroni au gratin (serves 3)

110g any supermarket macaroni
850 ml water
50g butter, plus a little extra
40g plain flour
1 leve teaspoon mustard powder
420ml semi-skimmed milk
175g cheddar cheese, grated
freshly grated nutmeg
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
4 rashers streaky bacon, rinded and chopped (I ike to use smoked rashers for flavour)
50g mushrooms, sliced
1 tomato, cut into pieces
seasoning

Boil the water in a large pan with some salt, add the macaroni and cook according to pack instructions. Make a roux with the 50g butter, flour and mustard. Make up a white sauce with the milk, cooking for about 6 mins before adding 75g of the grated cheese to melt into it, together with some seasoning and a few gratings of nutmeg. Soften the onion, bacon and mushrooms together in a little butter for a few mins. Drain the macaroni and combine with the sauce, bacon, onion and mushrooms. Place the mixture in a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top plus the pieces of tomato. Pop the dish under the grill until golden and bubbling.

Silverfish

senelra wrote: »

I
freshly grated nutmeg
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
4 rashers streaky bacon, rinded and chopped
50g mushrooms, sliced
1 tomato, cut into pieces

Argh no no no
Sounds lovely but it's not really mac & Cheese.



Here's the best recipe for mac&cheese, this is absolutely amazing.

yum yum yum

biddywiddy

Ah I see. More about the mac and cheese - less about the bacon and mushrooms!

That recipe looks good Silverfish. Must give it a go!

olaola

Here is the Merrilees Parker recipe:
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/607217

bonkey

Silverfish wrote: »

Here's the best recipe for mac&cheese, this is absolutely amazing.

Basically, its maxaroni in Mornay sauce.

Mornay sayce is a posh name for bechamel with cheese added....which in turn is a posh name for white sauce* with cheese added.

This is pretty-much the same as how I'd make cauliflower cheese...although in both cases, I'd add grated cheese on top of the assembled dish, as well as in the sauce itself.

Oh...and my preference would be to flavour the sauce with salt, pepper, paprika and nutmeg. By choice, I'd use a sharp gruyere as my cheese...but that's partly because its a common-as-muck cooking cheese here in Gruyere-land

* Yes...I know...there are other sauces also called white sauce.

neuro-praxis

Yeah, what bonkey said. He took the words right out of my mouth!

Mort5000

Any ideas where I can find macaroni (in Dublin)?

I have looked in my local shops, including Dunnes, Tesco, Superquinn and the usual candidates.

54kroc

Mort5000 wrote: »

Any ideas where I can find macaroni (in Dublin)?

I have looked in my local shops, including Dunnes, Tesco, Superquinn and the usual candidates.

Try Tesco again,they have their own brand stuff and some by Roma as well.

dubh101

Mort5000 wrote: »

Any ideas where I can find macaroni (in Dublin)?

I have looked in my local shops, including Dunnes, Tesco, Superquinn and the usual candidates.

Ya I have a pack from the last time I made Mac and Cheese and It has ALDI on it so you should get it there. My version would include lots off garlic in the sauce,and when I bake it I also top it with breadcrumbs as well as the cheese,makes for a nice crunch in the topping, yum, love mac and cheese.

Clementine

This is my favorite comfort food. I just make a cheesey sauce (a basic white sauce of butter, flour and milk with loads of grated cheese mixed in) and i usually use fusilli pasta instead of macaroni, the sauce sticks to it better I think. And I'm usually too impatient to bake it in the oven, sauce and pasta gets mixed together and plonked on the plate with two rashers usually on the side. 12mins to prepare, ultimate satisfaction.

kylith

1/4 cup flour
2 1/2 cup milk
loads of grated red cheddar (about half block/3 handfuls)

Mix flour and milk, cook in saucepan until thickened (I find it helps to mix the milk into the flour a bit at a time to make it easier to beat the lumps out). When it's as thick as you like add the grated cheese a bit at a time, then mix into hot pasta.

Start to plate: 15 minutes. If you like you can put it in the oven for 30 mins to make the top nice and chewy. I also like to mix in some fried bacon bits.

xxdilemmaxx

Made this last night but used Ina Garten's recipe for "grown up mac and cheese", she uses crispy bacon and the cheese sauce contains a mix of blue cheese, gruyere and cheddar.

Breadcrumb mix for the top with shredded basil in it, it was really very, very tasty

Got the macaroni pasta in Fresh, think it's Roma...

gerbo

xxdilemmaxx wrote: »

Made this last night but used Ina Garten's recipe for "grown up mac and cheese", she uses crispy bacon and the cheese sauce contains a mix of blue cheese, gruyere and cheddar.

Breadcrumb mix for the top with shredded basil in it, it was really very, very tasty

Got the macaroni pasta in Fresh, think it's Roma...

The use of a variety of cheeses sounds fantastic as does the use of basil. I usually just go with a strong mature cheddar to get the really cheesy taste. I top it with more chesse before putting it in the oven.

Might try this tonight. Pasta always goes done well at home.

xxdilemmaxx

Recipe can be found here http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/grown-up-mac-and-cheese-recipe/index.html