What to serve was macaroni cheese?

[SnickersWasAHorse]

I have a friend who is Indian. She has lived in the UK for about 5 years. A while ago she invited me, DH and a couple of other friends to her house for a traditional Indian meal. As you can imagine it was just amazing, but she said that she was just cooking what she makes all the time for her family.

I asked her what English food she would like me to cook in return and she said that the one dish that she really wants to learn how to make is macaroni cheese! I make a cracking macaroni cheese so I am happy with this. However I don't make it very often as it's not really enough of a meal in itself in my opinion.

This leaves me with a question. She wants to come and visit and learn how to make it, and I'll also invite the other friends too, but it's not really enough of a dish to serve on it's own for a meal.
What would you put with it? I want some side dishes really that are very 'English', by which I mean anything that we would eat in England, rather than vert traditional English food. I don't want to 'jazz up' or change the macaroni cheese in any way as this is what she is coming for.
Also, it needs to be vegi as DH and I are both vegetarian and my friend is Hindu.

Spinach and asparagus just lightly steamed.

Gherkins.

Garlicy green beans are nice with it. I would probs just go the whole hog and have garlic bread as well

Leafy salad and garlic bread

Peas and sweetcorn. And mustard if you find it a little, erm, bland.

"Pasta and cheese casseroles have been recorded as early as the 14th century in the Italian cookbook, Liber de Coquina, one of the oldest medieval cookbooks, which featured a dish of parmesan and pasta. A cheese and pasta casserole known as makerouns was recorded in the famous medieval English cookbook, the Forme of Cury, which was also written in the 14th century.[7] It was made with fresh, hand-cut pasta which was sandwiched between a mixture of melted butter and cheese. ...

The first modern recipe for the dish was included in Elizabeth Raffald's 1770 book, The Experienced English Housekeeper. Raffald's recipe is for a Béchamel sauce with cheddar cheese—a Mornay sauce in French cooking—which is mixed with macaroni, sprinkled with Parmesan, and baked until bubbly and golden. The famous British Victorian cookbook Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management included two recipes for the dish. One recipe states that "The macaroni, (which should be "tender but perfectly firm, no part being allowed to melt, and the form entirely preserved" – lest one be tempted to cook it for so long it actually disintegrated) is then topped with more cheese, pepper and breadcrumbs, before receiving a final dose of melted butter for good measure and being placed before a "bright fire" to brown the crumbs"

Big salad
Garlic bread
Grilled asparagus
Garlic mushrooms

I usually put tomatoes or garlicky mushrooms on top of my macaroni cheese, so maybe sides of grilled tomatoes or a tomato salad and garlic mushrooms?

My XP was Caribbean and he always served it with pork belly, ribs, chicken wings etc.
So bad but so good.

And a lovely tomatoey salad

Has to be cooked buttered carrots but in rounds not batons, and roasted tomatoes. 'tis the law.

That's interesting Ekkore Love food history.

Always a big bowl of watercress

Ah missed the vegi bit. Sorry. Chicken not ideal then

Bedazzled reminded me when I was a kid we are macaroni with buttered toast. We were carb loading for the whole of the 80s

Plain steamed green veg or salad, no oil, cream or butter as they would make the whole meal too rich.

Green salad, roasted tomatoes & crusty bread. What time would you like me?

I usually have mac and cheese with sausages!

We put lardons in our Mac and cheese, although obviously you can't do this if your friend is Muslim. We have a green leafy salad with it.

Oh yes, and we top it with tomatoes, oregano and parmesan.

It's very much an old English recipe and we gave it to them not the other way round.

Peas and broccoli for us, garlic bread if you want as well and baked tomatoes

I would serve it as a side with roasted gammon (possibly Nigela's with coke recipe) and big green salad. Yum

I eat it with a Cajun bake (I use prawn and chicken but I'm sure lots of red onion, corn on the cob, sweet potato could be used) and chuck all the ingredients in a maggi Cajun bag the. Add lime and spring onions on top.
But that's not really English ?

AdaColeman's ideas sound so lovely I'm going to nick them

Baked beans!!

Hope you enjoy them Prophet.

Macaroni and cheese has a long history as an English dish, l make it with mace and nutmeg as well as mustard, it has little in common with American Mac'n cheese which usually comes as a kit in a box.

Quartz and Ada
I didn't know that, thanks for enlightening me