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Macaroni cheese – a classic recipe that is certain to provide comfort, satisfaction and (usually) a hint of nostalgia. Unfortunately, macaroni cheese is not the most nutritious or creative of meals. So here’s a version that’s slightly more grown up friendly that you can present to your friends or simply feed the family with!
What you’ll need:
- Half a bag of rigatoni (Or macaroni if you’re a purist…)
- Cheese sauce (Homemade with a roux or from powder is fine!)
- One beef tomato
- Half an onion
- One small pack unsmoked lardons (or diced back bacon)
- Gruyere
- Cheddar
- Mozzarella
- A handful of basil
- Paprika
- Garlic powder
- Black pepper
How to do it:
- Cook the rigatoni (or your pasta of choice) as usual in salted, boiling water
- Drain the pasta and set aside
- Slice the beef tomato and dice the onion
- Grate as much of each chosen cheese as you like (I used mostly cheddar as gruyere has quite a strong flavour)
- Begin to make your cheese sauce, either from scratch with flour, milk and cheese or using a sachet. Be sure to stir regularly to create a lump-free sauce of the right consistency
- Sprinkle some cheddar into your cheese sauce (if you’ve made yours from scratch, skip this step)
- Whilst your cheese sauce is finishing cooking, fry the bacon lardons til crispy
- Add the diced onion to the pan with the lardons in to partially cook them
- Combine pasta, cheese sauce, onions and lardons in a large bowl
- Season with lots of paprika, garlic and black pepper
- Add half of your combination of cheese and mix
- Place your pasta mixture in an oven proof baking dish
- Layer the sliced tomato on top of the pasta bake
- Top with the rest of your cheese, a last grind of black pepper and a handful of basil leaves
- Heat in the oven on gas mark 6 for 25-30 minutes
- Serve and enjoy!
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