Abigail’s famous mac ‘n’ cheese
This decadent mac-and-cheese recipe features cream in the white sauce, bacon rashers, mature Gouda and is topped with torn ciabatta for extra crunch. It's a thing of beauty!
Ingredients
Method-
For the white sauce:
- 4 T butter
- 4 T flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup cream
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 4 garlic clove, crushed
- 300 g pork rashers, chopped
- 500 g macaroni, cooked al dente
- 250 g Woolworths 10-month mature Gouda, grated
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste For the topping:
- 1 T butter, melted
- 2 T Fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 ciabatta roll, torn into crumbs
Method
IngredientsPreheat the oven to 200°C. To make the white sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and mix to form a paste. Cook for 1 minute, remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the milk and cream. Return to the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, whisking continually, until thick. Season to taste.
Heat the olive oil in a pan, soften the onion and garlic, then add the pork rashers and fry until golden.
Fold in the macaroni, white sauce and 3⁄4 of the Gouda and season to taste. Transfer to an ovenproof dish or individual dishes and sprinkle over the remaining cheese and the topping. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.
Cook's note: To make the version on our cover, blanch 500 g cannelloni, place upright into a baking dish and pour over the sauce. Bake for 20–25 minutes. Did you know, the Woolworths 10-month mature Gouda, which recently won product of the year at the National Dairy Championships, is what makes this a real treat, plus the richness of the cream and fragrant freshly grated nutmeg.
This was probably the nicest Mac and cheese I have ever made. Not too rich and the bacon adds a great smokiness to the flavour of the cheese. We, sadly, didn’t have enough gouda but made it half gouda and mozzarella and added a little bit of sweet basil… Such a comforting dish.