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Baked Macaroni Cheese
A proper béchamel-based macaroni cheese with a crisp crumb top — no packet, no processed cheese slices. Mustard and nutmeg are what stop it tasting flat, and both are invisible in the finished dish.
Serves 6Prep 15 minCook 30 mincheese
Containsdairy · gluten
Protein 17%Carbs 41%Fat 42%
About 685 kcal a serve — 29 g protein, 70 g carbs, 31 g fat. Each segment is that macro's share of the calories, within about 10%.
Ingredients
Serves 6
Method
Undercook the macaroni on purpose
PastaBoil the macaroni in well-salted water two minutes SHORT of the packet time. It finishes cooking in the oven, and pasta cooked through now is mush later.
In the big saucepanPasta →
8 min
Butter, flour, then the milk slowly
SauceMelt the butter in another pan, stir in the flour and cook two minutes — it should smell biscuity, not raw. Add the warm milk a splash at a time, whisking each addition smooth before the next. Simmer until it coats a spoon.
In the saucepanSauce →
10 min
Cheese in off the heat
CheeseTake the pan OFF the heat before the cheese goes in — most of the cheddar, the mustard, nutmeg and salt, stirred until smooth. Cheese added over heat splits and turns grainy.
In the saucepanCheese →
3 min
Into the dish, crumb over, bake
BakeFold the drained pasta through the sauce, tip into a baking dish, and scatter the remaining cheddar, the parmesan and the breadcrumbs over. Bake at 200C for 30 minutes, until bubbling at the edges and browned on top.
In the baking dishBake →
30 min
Cook's noteMake the sauce looser than looks right — the pasta drinks a surprising amount in the oven, and a sauce that looked perfect in the pan bakes dry. A green salad and nothing else. It reheats with a splash of milk stirred through.
Estimated per serve
685 kcal · 29 g protein · 70 g carbs · 31 g fatestimates, within ~10%
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