Posh Macaroni Cheese

Posted 2015-09-09 by Oxford Explorer ⇒ follow

Macaroni cheese is my ultimate comfort food and a well loved family favourite. I love to give it an extra twist by adding crispy garlic chunky croutons and the salty twist of flavoursome pancetta.

This is such an easy recipe to make and cost effective too without compromising on taste.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients
500g macaroni pasta
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tsp mustard powder
900ml milk
200g grated cheddar cheese
2 slices French bread
1/2 garlic clove
4 slices pancetta

Method

Cook the pasta according to packet instructions. My macaroni was quite small so only took 8 minutes.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat.

Add the flour and mustard powder then stir, allowing the flour to cook and turn straw coloured.

Gradually add the milk a little at a time. Keep mixing until fully combined. The mixture may seems very runny at this point but it will thicken up as it cooks.

Add in the cheddar, reserving a little to sprinkle over the mac & cheese at the end.

Mix the pasta and cheese sauce together.

Place in a oven proof dish, sprinkle over grated cheese and bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 180 degrees F.

Meanwhile crush garlic, mix with a little butter and spread over slices of French bread. Bake in the oven until crisp and then cut into bite sized pieces.

Pan fry the pancetta until crisp (you won't require any oil as there is enough fat in the pancetta).