Anyway, I was making mac 'n' cheese on Sunday for the wife and I decided to jazz mine up a bit with some Q. The recipe makes enough for four sensible servings or two greedy servings. This is really nice comfort food for a winter's night. Quantitites for the cheese sauce are very approximate, adjust to taste.
Ingredients
- 4 sausages you've previously smoked, sliced into chunky slices.
I use my butchers' Cambrisgeshire Sausages, if you're going to go with supermarket sausages, buy good ones like Porky Whites - 1 Good-sized handful of pulled pork, finely shredded.
- 2 rashers of good quality smoked back bacon, cut into 1/2" pieces
- 1 Large Red onion coarsly chopped
- 2 medium ripe tomatoes, seeded and roughly chopped
- 400g of dried macaroni.
- Mature cheddar cheese
- Fresh Parmesan cheese
- Butter or oil for frying
- salt
- black pepper
- nutmeg
- 1pt skimmed milk
- 100g light philadelphia
- 1dsp english mustard
- 1tsp garlic powder
- 1/2tsp demererra sugar
- 1dsp plain flour
- 1 handful of breadcrumbs
Method
- Pre-heat your oven to 390F/200C
- Cook your macaroni in salted water until it's al-dente, drain and leave to one side.
- Meanwhile, saute your onions in butter/oil with the sugar for a few minutes, add the bacon and saute continue until the onions are soft.
- Add your pulled pork, sausages and tomato. Continue to cook for a minute or so while the tomatoes soften a bit.
- Remove from the pan leaving any oil still in there.
- Put the flour into the pan with the cooking oils and stir to form a paste, add more butter if required.
- Add milk little by little, stirring constantly to ensure no lumps form.
- Add garlic powder, mustard, a liberal sprinkling of nutmeg and stir through.
- Season lightly with salt and pepper.
- Add the philadelphia and stir through until smooth, be careful not to boil the sauce.
- At this point it's time to cheese it up, I'd start with a handful of grated cheddar and half the amount of parmesan. Stir this through, let it melt in then taste to see if it's cheesy enough for you, if not keep adding some more until it's right.
- Season some more with salt and/or pepper if you think it needs it.
- Cook the sauce for a few more minutes, without boiling it, then set to one side.
- Mix your pork/onion/tomato and macaroni together and place in an oven-proof dish.
- Pour over your cheese sauce.
- Top with some more grated cheese and some breadcrumbs
- Cook the sauce for a few more minutes, without boiling it, then set to one side.Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes
- Cook the sauce for a few more minutes, without boiling it, then set to one side.Leave to rest for 5 minutes then serve.
That's it, really quick and simple, if you wanted you could even just make up a packet sauce. Not the healthiest dish but very tasty.
Cheers
