75. Mac and Cheese (and Veg!)

Name: 75. Mac and Cheese (and Veg!)
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 100g unsalted butter; 1 onion, finely diced; 70g plain flour; 300ml cream; 1 litre milk; 500g aged cheddar, grated; 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper; 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg; 1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard; 500g macaroni; 1 head broccoli, cut into small florets; 200g mushrooms, sliced; 2 carrots, grated; 1 zucchini, grated; 180g panko crumbs; 50g parmesan cheese, grated; 1 tbsp olive oil

6 steps

Prep:45minCook:30min

When selecting cheddar cheese, go for something well matured and flavourful (suggest at least 18 months aged), but not too crumbly otherwise it’ll be hard to grate. You can also go for any combination of cheese that melts well, but 500g blocks of cheddar are available in virtually every supermarket so are pretty convenient and cost effective. Try not to get pre-shredded cheese, it has additives that stop it sticking to itself that prevent it melting in the sauce. Elbow macaroni are probably a bit more iconic for this, but when I went shopping the elbow macaroni were poor quality at my local supermarket. At the end of the day, quality pasta will give you a tastier result, and really any shape tubular pasta works brilliant here.

Updated at: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 04:45:19 GMT

Nutrition balance score

Unbalanced

Glycemic Index

Moderate

Glycemic Load

High

Nutrition per serving

Calories1076 kcal (54%)

Total Fat59 g (84%)

Carbs94.8 g (36%)

Sugars14.1 g (16%)

Protein40.8 g (82%)

Sodium704.8 mg (35%)

Fiber5.2 g (18%)

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Ingredients

7 servings

100gunsalted butter

1onion

finely diced

70gplain flour

300mlcream

1 litremilk

500gaged cheddar

grated

¼ tspcayenne pepper

½ tspground nutmeg

1 heaped tspdijon mustard

500gmacaroni

1 headbroccoli

cut into small florets

200gmushrooms

50gparmesan cheese

grated

1 Tbspolive oil

Instructions

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Step 2

Grease a large rectangular oven tray with the butter, then melt the rest in a large heavy bottom pot. Add the onion and cook for a minute, before adding the flour and stirring or whisking very thoroughly to combine. Allow the flour to cook off for a few minutes, before adding the cream and milk, gently but consistently stirring to keep anything from settling to the bottom, as the mixture returns gradually to the boil. Add the cayenne pepper, nutmeg, and Dijon mustard. Now allow it to heat up again, stirring all the while, until it thickens. You know it’s ready when it coats the back of a wooden spoon and clings when you lift the spoon out. Turn off the heat and stir through 2/3rds of the grated cheddar until it melts into the sauce. Taste for seasoning, but it should be pretty savoury - less mature cheddar sometimes needs a little more salt at this point.

Step 3

Cook the pasta for 1 minute less than the indicated time in a pot of boiling salted water. 5 minutes before that time is up, add the broccoli florets to soften in the boiling water while the pasta is cooking. Drain.

Step 4

Add the cooked pasta, broccoli, mushrooms, carrot and zucchini to the cheese sauce, stirring through until everything is coated. Ladle it all out onto the greased oven tray. Sprinkle the remaining cheddar cheese all over the tray of pasta.

Step 5

Make the breadcrumb layer by combining the panko crumbs with the grated parmesan, a pinch of salt, and drizzling over the olive oil. Mix well. Spoon this out on top of the mac and cheese until you’ve got a complete layer.

Step 6

Cook in the oven for 30 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius, or until the crumb crust is nice and golden. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.