Macaroni Cheese
At Lunch.Co, we encourage you to cook at home. Donning the apron need not be too tricky, though – especially with this quality recipe for Macaroni Cheese. Recipe source: https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/daisy-s-macaroni-cheese/
1 Hour
6 Servings
Ingredients
How to do it
250 g portobello mushrooms
100 g sun-dried tomatoes in oil
15g fresh thyme
olive oil
3 rashers of higher-welfare smoked streaky bacon
70 g breadcrumbs
15g fresh flat-leaf parsley
300 g dried macaroni
80 g unsalted butter
80 g plain flour
1 litre whole milk
50 g Cheddar cheese
50 g Emmental cheese
50 g Gruyère cheese
higher-welfare chipolata sausages , optional
Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Finely slice the mushrooms and tomatoes, and pick the thyme leaves. Place in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon of oil and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, or until golden and cooked down, then remove to a plate, leaving the pan on the heat.
Slice the bacon into thin strips and cook in the pan for 3 to 4 minutes, or until golden and crisp.
Add 1 tablespoon of the sun-dried tomato oil to the pan, scatter in the breadcrumbs, then pick, finely chop and stir in the parsley. Cook for 1 further minute, tossing regularly, then remove from the heat and leave to cool.
Cook the macaroni in a pan of boiling salted water for 4 minutes (it will continue to cook in the oven), then drain.
Melt the butter in a large pan over a medium heat, then stir in the flour to make a paste. Slowly add the milk to the pan, splash-by-splash, stirring constantly to avoid any lumps, then switch the heat off.
Grate the cheeses into the sauce, seasoning with a big pinch of black pepper, then stir in the macaroni.
Transfer half the macaroni to a 20cm x 28cm baking dish, then layer over half the tomatoes and mushrooms. Repeat the layers, then top with the bacon breadcrumbs.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden and bubbling. If you’re going all out, now is a good time to cook the chipolatas according to packet instructions.
Leave the macaroni cheese to stand for a few minutes before serving alongside the golden chipolatas, if using.