Baked Mac and Cheese Recipe - Gooey Cheese Topped With Crunchy Breadcrumbs, Perfect for the Festive Season!
Cheese. Pasta. Crunchy breadcrumbs. Does life get any better than when these three ingredients meet in a hot oven? I hadn't actually ever attempted to make mac and cheese before but I know it's a favourite here in Australia and our friends over in America so I thought I'd give it a go and see how it turned out...check out my attempt below :)
Preparation and Cooking Instructions
Step One
Ingredients required:
- 2 types of cheese - I used Colby & Mozzarella (for that streeeeeeetchy goodness)
- flour
- butter
- panko breadcrumbs
- milk
- macaroni pasta
- onion, garlic and mustard powder
Step Two
Cook pasta as per packet directions (with one minute less as it will keep cooking in the oven) and return to the pot with a knob of butter - this prevents the pasta from getting all clumpy (technical term lol).
Step Three
Grab a cast iron skillet and melt butter.
Step Four
Add flour and continue mixing until you have a smooth roux
Step Five
Once you can sweep the back of a wooden spoon with your finger as shown below, the roux is ready for the cheese
Step Six
Add cheese
Step Seven
Oooooh yeah, cheesey goodness!!
Step Eight
Add the cheese sauce to the macaroni in the pot and stir quickly, then return back to the cast iron skillet.
Step Nine
Sprinkle on the breadcrumbs which I added a pinch of salt and butter to help brown.
Step Ten
Serve!
Closing Thoughts...
I think this is definitely a "sometimes" dish i.e not something you can comfortably eat every day and not feel guilty! I generally try to eat pretty healthy so this was a treat for me but hey you have to live a little right? The crunch of the breadcrumbs with the cheesey sauce was a match made in heaven. I had to get a small plate so I could restrict my portions and make sure I didn't eat the whole thing!
Let me know if you guys have any tips or steps you do differently when you make mac and cheese, or better yet, post on Steemit and share with all of us!
Until next time...I'll leave you with a tasty view.
@phamished xx
All photos are mine and original, taken on a Sony RX100
yummy.looks great.
Thanks! Appreciate you stopping by to comment.
you are welcome.i allways stop by for good food.
Haha thank you for the compliment, I shall try to continue to bring good food here :D
yes,this is a good ideea.
Beautiful mac and cheese! your sauce looks perfect! and the finished dish with the crispy bread crumbs... Awesome!
Thanks @chefsteve! Apologies for the delay in reply, you know how it is with Christmas and everything.
Haha it was quite difficult to simultaneously stir the sauce so it didn't burn and also take a photo that was in focus but thank you I was really happy with the sauce. Thanks for stopping by to comment :)
Oh how I love a good baked Mac and Cheese! My waistline however... not so much.
Pretty sure I'll be making some form of it again once I'm back in Sydney
My waistline agrees with you :( but my stomach was pleased, can't please everyone ;) Ooh, sounds wonderful, you're travelling at the moment?
Yeah, I've gone to Adelaide for almost a month, with some time on either end in transit. I think we've got 4 days in Melbourne on the way back
Mm mm looks delicious ! I love mac n cheese !! Thanks for sharing you recipe , upped and resteemed to share with my foodie followers in my @momskitchen blog !😋😋😋✌👍
Thanks @momskitchen! Long time no hear from you so it's great to see you around again :) thanks so much for the support, I really appreciate it!
Your very welcome ! Im just so busy on my @karenmckersie account with my #popcontest lately that I've been missing a lot of posts , I also wanted to give a bit of rest and rebuild my voting power , it was getting really low so it takes 3 or 4 days to get it back up haha as long as I can stop useing it to up vote so much LOL!! Steem on !! 😋😋😋👍👍👍😂
NIce work! Looks YUMMY! I love me some Cheesy Macoronni, great comfort food :)
Thank you for the comment! Yes it was a really delicious dish and one I hope to make again soon. Fantastic comfort food and quite easy to make too!!
Oh my yes, just hand that pan right over here. I bet I could have that gone in 10 minutes....or less! Great recipe and love all your pics.
Haha trust me, it was a real struggle to not eat it all straightaway but we did a good job eating about half in one sitting ;)
Ah comfort food but every time I have mac & cheese I feel luxurious :D So cool cooking it all in the skillet. Time saved on washing :D
Yes 100% comfort food - isn't it the greatest!! Although I feel like a fatty after, it's worth every bite. Yes, I actually bought that skillet that same morning haha. I was determined to make it in a cast iron skillet and I only had my small one so I went and bought a 30cm one :P. I love recipes that don't use many pots/pans they are such a burden to wash =\
You think like a chef. We try our best to think of what we cook that has as little washing as possible :D
this reminds me of how my grandma used to make some mac n cheese, she'd add some hot dogs to the top ...brings back great memories! :) upvoted thx for sharing !
That sounds amazing!! I love adding hot dogs, frankfurts, sausages or any type of meat like that to pasta dishes - it really takes it to the next level, thanks for the tip!
Comfort food.. and I agree. Not something for every day if you are trying to eat healthy ;) Have a great day!
Sorry for the late reply - yes it is 100% comfort food but hey, Christmas is the perfect time to be eating 'comfort' food like this right? ;)
True that!
This post has received a 0.35 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @banjo.