THIS IS THE ULTIMATE MAC AND CHEESE – sorry to shout it, but it really is! And it should be…..for all the darned calories in it! I mean nothing that tastes this good is low fat…..amiright???

Yes there are a few extra cals, yes your waistline mightn’t thank you but your taste buds sure as heck will. In reality, this the type of dish that you should only make once in a while, a treat meal…..something that you can enjoy cause it’s not an everyday thing.

This is ultimate comfort food – wholesome, comforting, memory-inducing – it’s perfect on a cold day with lots of garlic bread………..*drools

You can of course make this healthier, omit some of the cheese, leave out the cream……but then it’s a different recipe.

Let’s get into this recipe – when I researched this I realised everyone makes it differently. Some use evaporated milk, some cream cheese, some double cream, some semi-skimmed milk, some mascarpone- the list is endless. I pretty much indulged in all of the above to make it ultimate and then threw in some bacon for good measure!!

I choose to bake this mac and cheese to get that cheesy crispy topping, but admittedly, it does reduce the creaminess a little as the sauce bakes into the pasta further. You can omit this step and just serve it once you’ve mixed the pasta into the sauce – it will be like velvet!!

Make this, delight in the creamy cheesy goodness and ENJOY!

Ingredients

• 500g macaroni pasta
• 1-2 small onions, chopped
• 6 slices smoked streaky bacon, chopped
• 50g butter
• 3-4 heaped tbsp plain flour
• 1 ltr semi-skimmed milk (a nod to low fat lol)
• 200ml double cream
• 100g cream cheese
• 400g mature cheese (some of this will be for the topping)
• 100g parmesan (some of this will be for the topping)
• 1/4 tsp mustard powder
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180c (fan)
2. Cook the pasta in a lot of salted water until tender
3. In a large pan – large enough to fit the sauce and the pasta – fry off the onions and bacon in a little oil until the onions are tender and the bacon crispy.
4. Add in the butter and stir until melted.
5. Add the plain flour and stir all together until the flour is absorbed and cook for a minute.
6. Slowly add in the milk, a little at a time, stirring all the time until the milk is absorbed – then add more, little by little. You can be daring and start to add more at a time as the mix loosens.
7. Once the milk is added, you should have a lovely thick, creamy sauce.
8. Stir in the double cream, cream cheese, mature cheese and parmesan cheese, mustard powder and salt and pepper – keeping some of the cheeses behind to sprinkle over the top before it goes in the oven.
9. Pour your cooked pasta into the cheese sauce mix and give it a stir.
10. Tip it into an ovenproof dish, big enough to handle all that pasta!
11. Sprinkle the top of the mac and cheese with the leftover mature cheese and parmesan cheese and put it in the oven for 20-25mins until its brown and bubbling.
12. DEVOUR!