Mac and cheese is the ultimate comfort food, but Karen will add a few of her favourite ingredients to elevate the flavours.
While most people will use whatever cheese they have left over for the white sauce, Karen says the best cheeses for mac and cheese are grana padano cheese, aged sharp cheddar or Gruyère cheese. The good news is that these are a staple on supermarket shelves.
Adding milk to the mac and cheese makes the sauce nice and creamy. It helps to thin out the cheese and butter mixture, making it easier to coat the pasta evenly. Additionally, milk adds moisture and richness to the dish.
This mac and cheese will smell so good that holding your family back from eating it will be the most challenging part of the recipe.
Mac and cheese recipe
Ingredients
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C fan-forced (200°C conventional).
In a small saucepan, combine milk and katsuobushi on medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Turn off heat and remove from stove. Set aside for 15 minutes to infuse. Strain through a sieve and discard solids. Return milk to a clean saucepan and keep warm.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until al dente.
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt butter on medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes until softened. Season. Stir in flour, cook, stirring constantly for 1-2 minutes. Whisk in warm infused milk. Stir in mustard and whisk for 2 minutes until smooth. Stir in cream, cheeses and green onion.
Stir pasta through sauce and transfer to an 8-cup capacity baking dish. Top with breadcrumbs. Bake for 20 minutes until sauce is golden and bubbling. Serve with mixed salad.
Essential kitchen items needed for this recipe
- Large saucepan for boiling pasta
- Medium saucepan for preparing the cheese sauce
- Small saucepan for infusing milk with katsuobushi
- Baking dish (8-cup capacity) for baking the mac and cheese
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