Macaroni and cheese is simple comfort food. Relatively quick to make and always hits the spot. But what makes it great? What elevates it from Fabio Capello to Gareth Southgate? Well, in my view there are three factors that make a difference:

Pasta cooking time
Bechamel science
Seasoning.

Ingredients

100g of Macaroni, Lumache, or Chifferi Rigati
20g of butter
20g of flour
200ml of milk
80g cheese (see note below)
1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
Freshly milled black pepper, or chilli flakes or both
A teaspoon of finely chopped parsley
Salt to taste
Breadcrumbs
Lobster, chorizo or something else (see below)

A note on cheese

You could use pretty much any cheese or blend of cheeses. Not goats cheese of course, sure it would work, but you’re better than that. I use Gruyere and Parmesan in a 60:40 ratio to get the right mix of ooze and sharp. If you are experimenting with new cheese then unless you like a finished dish sharper than an Oscar Wilde zinger, then I suggest you cut your sharp cheese with something milder in the same 60:40 ratio.

Lobster, chorizo or something else

In the picture at the top of this post, I used chorizo. You could use lobster, crab or indeed almost anything that you would put in pasta to flavour your Mac and Cheese. Change up the herbs to match what you put in. Add fresh chilli or as I do, confit or roast garlic if I have some kicking about. If you’d put it in a pasta and it goes with cheese, it will work here.

Step 1 – Cooking the pasta

Before you put the pasta on to cook, set your oven to 180c and let it preheat. Bring a large pot of well salted water to the boil and add your pasta. Set a timer for 1 minute less than the al dente time on the packet. If the packet has a range then it’s one minute less than the lowest number. Don’t guess. In fact never guess with pasta. Remember the four Ps.

Perfect Pasta Prequires Precision. (The third P is silent)

When your timer goes off, drain the pasta and contrary to good pasta practice, give it a very quick rinse in cold water to stop it cooking and remove some of the surface starch. While you want that lovely starch and a bit of cooking water to bind your pasta sauce, I don’t think it works with Mac and Cheese.

Step 2 – Cheese sauce

This is a classic béchamel so in a small saucepan melt the butter over a medium heat and add the flour. Stir well with a wooden spoon and cook out the flour. This takes a couple of minutes and makes a difference to the finished dish so persevere. Time yourself if necessary. You’ll get an almost biscuity aroma as the flour cooks out at which point it’s time to gradually add the milk. To avoid making a mess it’s helpful to have your milk in a jug or something else with a lip to pour it rather than a glass. Pour it in slowly and just a splash at a time until you get something resembling a sauce. The first splash will evaporate as it hits the pan and a little will combine making the flour and butter roux stiffer. The second and third splashes will start to loosen it and at this point you want to switch from a wooden spoon to a whisk. Keep whisking in the milk a bit at a time. It should take 3-4 minutes to incorporate the lot; whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Once all the milk is in, cook for 2 more minutes whisking constantly and then take it off the heat.

This produces quite a thick sauce when the cheese is added. If you like a looser sauce then add a little more milk or even a dash of cream if you are feeling particularly decadent.

With the sauce off the heat, add the Dijon mustard, pepper and/or chilli, parsley and cheese. Give it a really good whisk to incorporate. At this point if you want to add chorizo, lobster or anything else, do so and mix it in before the pasta.

Taste the sauce before adding the pasta. Depending on the cheese or anything else you may have added, the sauce may need a little more salt or quite a bit more.

Step 3 – Assembly

Working quickly, add the pasta to the sauce, mix well and pour into an oven safe dish. I like to use a small cast iron pan because it photographs well. You however, may be normal and not take photos of all you cook. As they used to say in several ready meal factories in the previous decade, horses for courses.

Top the mix with breadcrumbs. I like to make breadcrumbs from a baguette or fresh boule that I’ve made. Blitz until fine and sprinkle liberally across the top. Grate or dot a bit more cheese on top and put the dish into the oven for 20 minutes.

Step 4 – Serve

The temptation when it comes out of the oven is to eat a mouthful immediately. Do so at your own peril because it will be hotter than the sun and you are likely to scald your mouth. In any event, let it sit for a couple of minutes before serving with dressed salad leaves and a cold glass of whatever you fancy.

Macaroni and Cheese