Real Mac n' Cheese!

How to make an extra cheesy cheese sauce with pasta.

This has a recipe for how to make proper cheese sauce from scratch, which is so simple and much tastier than a shop bought substitute, and is one of my favourite things to make. It’s such yummy comfort food.  Feel free to throw some extra things in, for example: lightly fried bacon and/or peas! This serves around 4 people.

Ingredients:

- One block of cheese

- 1/2 - 1 cup of milk

- Couple spoonfuls of plain flour

- A knob of Butter

- Macaroni pasta

Step One

Put your pasta in the pan to boil. My mum always said to estimate a couple handfuls per person so that's what I usually do.

Step Two

Put a large knob of butter in a pan on a lowish heat and wait until it melts, but don’t let it begin to boil.

Step Three

Slowly add a couple spoonfuls of flour. You don’t want to add too much, so take your time, add one and stir for a while, then add another. You’re aiming for a paste like consistency and nothing too much thicker. If you find you’ve added too much, just add a little more butter.

Step Four

Take it off the heat now to add the milk.
In the same way that you added the flour, keep adding a little at a time and stirring it in properly to ensure you have the right consistency.
Most recipe books call for it to be runny, but thick enough to coat the back of your spoon - however, I find that once you’ve added the cheese, you’ll need to add more milk anyway. So don’t worry if your mixture is a bit runny, just make sure it’s well mixed.

Step Five

Put it back on a low heat.
Grate all your cheese (I like my mac n’ cheese as cheesy as hell, but don’t forget to leave some to sprinkle on top when serving).
Add in a handful, mix in, then add another and mix and continue until it’s a nice smooth mixture - add a little milk if you find it’s too thick. 

Sprinkle with a little black pepper or mixed herbs if you like, and if you’ve prepared anything like bacon or peas, now is the time to chuck them in.

Step Six

Pour your cheesy mixture into your (drained) pasta and mix up. 

Serve by itself, or with perhaps chips, and I always like to add a little extra sprinkle of cheese on top to melt while I eat.

To make your macaroni cheese crunchy - put in an oven-proof dish, sprinkle with extra cheese and seasoning’s, and then some breadcrumbs. Grill for about 5 minutes, but keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn!