Macaroni cheese

[TheCutter]

I'm making macaroni cheese tonight for dinner and wondered if you put your Mac and cheese in the oven to bake or just do it all in the frying pan?

Thanks everyone

I saute finely chopped onions, bacon and tomatoes in a fry pan, (with a touch of olive oil), and leave that to rest.

Then I make a roux, a white sauce, to the consistency I like, stirring constantly to ensure it doesn't catch, or have lumps. Give it a brisk whisk if you need to. (I find having a furious conversation with someone in my head seems to make for a very good roux!). I make it in a dutch oven.

Add the cheese to the sauce, stirring constantly.

Add the bacon, tomato and onion to the roux, and taste for whether it needs more salt. If so, add it, if not, grind some pepper into it.

Boil the pasta according to packet instructions, in a different pot, if you haven't already.

After thoroughly draining the pasta, add it to the roux and bacon/tomato, onion mixture.

Then bake in the oven on a lower heat, for at least an hour.

Cook macaroni, fry pancetta, make cheese sauce. Drain pasta and remove pancetta from fat. Mix everything together, top with breadcrumbs and Parmesan. Grill for a few mins until top is crispy.

I'm bewildered by the idea of cooking pasta or making cheese sauce on a frying pan. How is it big enough? How does it not just slop over the sides?

Maybe people are using the terms incorrectly?

I always like the crispy top but I have found some children prefer it straight from the pan so it depends on what you all prefer.

I want macaroni cheese now.

You're a frying pan salesperson in disguise , aren't you? You haven't fooled ME.

This is a lovely mac and cheese

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/greens-mac-n-cheese/

I use frozen leeks and frozen spinach.

Me too but not all this mucked-around stuff with vegetables in it, for god’s sake! Leeks? Mushrooms? Tomatoes? Broccoli? A roast dinner? Lobster Thermidor? An entire poached salmon from a wedding buffet? No wonder the stuff is coming over the sides of people’s frying pans!

Macaroni. Cheese sauce. Cheese and breadcrumbs on top to taste. Side dishes: hot sauce, ketchup.

Definitely bake it and yes to mustard powder and extra veggies. Some bacon lardons are nice too (but fry those off your frying pan before adding, don't fry the macaroni! 😁).

In the oven!! Nice crispy topping enjoy your dinner

@stuntbubbles - that did make me laugh. Especially the "lobster thermidor"!

However, we use a frying pan - not for the pasta or the sauce, but for the sneaky bacon that we mix in, which is lovely!

If you oven make it much wetter than you think it needs to be otherwise it'll be a dry lump when it comes out.

Mmm chorizo that's an ace idea

@TheCutter - sorry no-one cooked for you when you were a child. Hats off to you for teaching yourself now.

@Sistanotcista Oh, yes: bacon or pancetta is allowed. Perhaps an entire sausage on top as a garnish.

Ooh, yes bacon or pancetta but not too much. And a half tsp of mustard powder in the sauce. Yummy. I tend to bake it for 20 minutes to get the extra cheese crispy on the top, or under a hot grill would work, for a few minutes.

Is there a place for Worcestershire Sauce in Mac n' Cheese I wonder?

I do ours in the pressure cooker, just to throw a curve ball in there!

OP if you’re learning and cooking for kids have a look at Taming Twins on instagram, she does meal plans and shopping lists and is inexpensive so if it goes horribly wrong you don’t feel like you’ve wasted a fortune in ingredients.

Fry bacon & onion together, mix through the nearly-cooked pasta. Then make croutons in the same pan with extra butter. Make the white sauce, add more cheese than you think is sensible, and then a bit of parmesan too. A teaspoon of wholegrain mustard into the sauce, a bit of thyme if you like, and then mix 3/4 of the sauce with the pasta in an oven dish. Pour the rest of the sauce over, top with the croutons, bake for 20 minutes. Delicious. Serve with a glass of red wine and some broccoli if you want to pretend you're healthy. I also like it with fresh tomatoes.

Yes I was the same. My dad was a fabulous Cooke but worked long hours. My mum heated things and burnt things. So hard to pick stuff up.

If you can master a basic stew recipe, that’s really useful, freezes, and is the basic technique for many things.

Cook. Not Cooke. Honestly I’m going to go back to posting from the desk top to escape this autocorrect. 😏

Ah good for you OP giving it ago!

I would always bung in oven to crisp up with extra cheese. Apparently cheesy Wotsits crumbled on to the top is a winner, but I've never tried it 🤣

I make it all in one pot! Cook and drain macaroni in the saucepan, add butter to it and stir till melted. Add flour and stir till covered. Add milk and stir till it starts thickening, add more milk and the cheese. Easy one pot meal!

I prefer to then put it in a dish with extra cheese and breadcrumbs under the grill but somet8mes just dish up out of the pot :)

Now, yer just making me feel hungry, OP! Get a lashing of ketchup on it too! 😋

I make my cheese sauce in the microwave, add to cooked pasta then add crispy bacon, jalapenos and hot sauce.