Cook the pasta: in a pot of boiling water until al dente (slightly firm/undercooked) – this is so that when it’s in the oven, the pasta becomes perfectly cooked.
Add flavourings: any extra flavour boost ingredients like herbs or spices can be added now.Add cheese: stir the grated cheese into the sauce until it has melted.This is now a ‘white sauce’ or ‘bechamel sauce’. Cook until the starch in the flour gelatinises and thickens the sauce. Add milk: gradually whisk milk into the roux until fully combined and smooth.Make a roux: melt butter in a pot, add flour and cook for a couple of minutes to toast the flour.The method here can be used with basically any cheese sauce & pasta combo so you can make it your own. It’s overall quite a simple process once you get the hang of making a good cheese sauce. Optional flavour boosters – more on this below but I like to add marmite, MSG, vinegar/lemon juice, mustard & smoked paprika to my mac & cheese sauce for more flavour.Breadcrumbs – scattering these over the mac and cheese before baking leads to a crsipy crunchy crust as the breadcrumbs become golden in the oven.It has a good salty, tangy flavour and has some gooey stretch to it Cheese – there’s more info on choosing types of cheese below but the main gist is that if not doing a blend of cheeses, go with a mature cheddar.Otherwise, I’ve had success using unsweetened, plain soy milk, almond milk or oat milk. Milk – it’s essential for the sauce to have a liquid component so it has the right texture! Now, it’s best to use a semi-skimmed/whole cow’s milk here but you could actually get away with skimmed milk or even water tbh (more on that below).The starch in the flour absorbs liquid from the milk and gelatinises which just means that it helps to thicken the sauce. Flour – this is also part of the roux.If you prefer, you can replace the butter with an equal amount of olive oil. Butter – this is used for making your roux (a butter-flour paste) which helps thicken the cheese sauce.Dry pasta – see below for more info but TLDR is to choose a short pasta shape (preferably hollow) and cook until al dente.Tried this recipe? Let me know how it went! Mention or tag #topwithcinnamon! Ingredients for mac & cheese
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