This easy Macaroni and Cheese recipe tastes so much better than the store bought dried version. It is great comfort food and I love making it.

I bet you have all the ingredients in your house already so let’s get started. 🙂

Dietary notes: The bacon is totally optional and you can easily adapt the recipe to use gluten and dairy free ingredients. You can also throw in vegetables like corn and peas if you are trying to get them into your little fussy eaters.

You will be:

1. Cooking the bacon
2. Boiling the pasta
3. Making the white cheese sauce
4. Mixing eveything
5. Serving

You will need:

• Ingredients (feeds 2 adults and 2 kids):
  • 3 cups freshly made pasta (any type of short/elbow pasta)
  • 6 rashers bacon (I used short-cut bacon), cut into small squares
  • 80g cheese (I used a mild cheddar), grated
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 1 Tbsp plain white flour
  • A sprinkle of ground nutmeg
  • Ground black pepper to taste, optional
  • Chopped parsley and chives to taste, optional
•  Equipment:
  • Long sharp knife
  • Chopping board
  • Frypan for the bacon
  • Saucepan for the pasta
  • Small saucepan for the white sauce
  • Colander to drain the pasta

Cooking the bacon

Start cooking the 6 rashers worth of bacon in a frypan. This part will take a while so we will be boiling the pasta and making the cheese sauce during it. Just remember to keep an  eye on it so you get evenly cooked bacon and not charcoal. 🙂

Boiling the pasta

1. Bring enough water to cook 3 cups of elbow pasta to the boil.
2. Add a bit of salt and some olive oil.
3. Cook the pasta al dente and then drain.

Making the white cheese sauce

1. On low heat, melt the 1 Tbsp of butter in a saucepan.
2. Slowly stir in the 1 Tbsp plain white flour.
3. Add a pinch of ground nutmeg (this is the dish’s secret weapon).
4. Slowly stir in the 2 cups of milk.
5. Add any herbs and vegetables at this stage.
6. Stir in the 80g grated cheese and now cooked bacon.

Mixing everything

I bring the cheese sauce to the pasta rather than the other way round. I do this so I can control the amount of sauce in the final dish. I then gently fold the sauce through the pasta.

Serving

Serve hot with some freshly cracked black peppercorns. I also like a bit of fresh crusty bread smothered in butter. 🙂

It makes for great leftovers the next day and also freezes well.

Enjoy,

PK

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