Initially, mac and cheese was a higher class dish. Over time, when pasta became widespread, the dish lost its exclusive status, and became a quick and filling dinner available to everyone. The demand for baked macaroni and cheese came in 1937 when packaged dishes were launched. How to make mac and cheese?
Mac n cheese – recipe
Ingredients for 4-5 servings
– 400 g feather pasta
– 300 g mimolette or cheddar cheese
– 1 liter of milk, preferably 3.2% fat
– 100 g butter
– approx. 5 heaped tablespoons of wheat flour (type 500 or 550)
– half a teaspoon of ground nutmeg
– salt and pepper to taste
Optional: a heaped spoon of inactive yeast flakes (to be added when grated cheese), smoked salt, smoked sweet pepper.
Preparation
- Boil water in a saucepan, salt well and throw in the pasta. We cook for 3 minutes less than recommended by the manufacturer. It will still be quite hard and it should be so. After the allotted time, drain the pasta and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- We rub the cheese on a grater.
- Put the pan on medium heat and melt the butter on it.
- We prepare béchamel sauce. We put the flour on melted butter and from this moment constantly stir with a rod. Clumps and clumps will form – this is how it should be. Fry for a while, stirring constantly.
- Pour milk into a narrow trickle into flour and butter and mix vigorously without interruption. This amount of flour will probably take exactly a liter of milk, maybe a little less. The sauce will get more and more uniform as it mixes. We reduce for a while stirring constantly, season with salt and nutmeg, remove from heat. The sauce should not be too thick, because it will thicken even during baking.
- Leave some grated cheese to sprinkle on top, and add the rest to the sauce, mix and pour the whole strained pasta, mix for the last time. At this stage, it is worth trying to assess whether there is enough salt or other spices.
- Transfer the whole to a heat-resistant dish, a cast-iron pot or deep pan, which can be put into the oven and baked in 180 degrees (without hot air). Bake until the sauce starts bubbling or a little longer on the edges, so that the cheese from the top sinter more strongly – depending on your preferences.
Vegan mac and cheese
Ingredients for 3-4 medium servings:
- 2-3 cups of pasta
- 2 medium potatoes
- 1 less than medium carrot
- ½ cup cashews, soaked in water for several hours (can be omitted)
- 1 medium onion
- 5 tablespoons of yeast flakes
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- a few spoons of water from cooking vegetables
for serving: chives or spring onions, smoked paprika, vegan parmesan cheese
Preparation
- Fry chopped onion and crushed garlic in a frying pan. In a medium pot, cook the diced carrot and potato – until tender (the smaller the cube – the faster they will cook). Save water.
- Mix cooked vegetables together with soaked cashews, fried onion and the addition of water left from cooking – until the desired consistency is obtained. Add spices and blend everything thoroughly into a smooth paste, seasoning with salt and pepper.
- Cook the pasta and pour over the cheese sauce. Bake in an ovenproof dish or cast iron pan for about 15 – 25 minutes at 200 ° C until everything is cooked, the cheese thickens and a characteristic “crust” is formed (I recommend the grill function and hot air, but you need to make sure that the casserole does not burn – time baking is an individual matter and depends on your preferences).
- Serve with noodles
