Gratin de macaronis au fromage (aka mac and cheese)

My first memory of mac ‘n’ cheese was not a pleasant one. In the 90’s my mum ventured out and bought some Continental pasta and sauce in a packet. The idea of a quick and easy meal for her hungry brood seemed like a winner.

The flavoured flour turn sauce was a new concept for me and my brother so we enthusiastically followed the instructions to the tee. The pasta cooked, eventually, but the sauce didn’t quite look like the luscious creamy deliciousness that was displayed on the packet. Nevertheless, we took our first bite with high hopes.

Well, as you could tell from my opening line, I was mortified! The sauce was extremely salty and the cheese flavour was terribly artificial - not to mention the weird smell while it cooked. The flouriness of the sauce was very noticeable and with that I set the dish aside in disgust. Poor mum was back to cooking dinners from scratch. Since then, I have never considered making mac ’n’ cheese again.

It wasn’t until my MIL was given a cookbook written by Rachel Khoo who we had seen on television. We would watch Rachel on ‘My Little Paris Kitchen’ cook amazing French dishes using only a two burner gas cooktop, compact oven, bar fridge and basic utensils. Her show should’ve been called ‘My Tiny Paris Kitchen’ because I was just amazed at how she cooked all these delicious meals and also run a restaurant from her 21m² apartment. It was bonkers!

Mac 'n' Cheese with a side of salad

Anyway, I digress. While I was browsing through her book, I came across the ‘gratin de macaronis au fromage’ (AKA mac ‘n’ cheese) recipe. The ingredients and technique were simple enough and her inclusion of onions, bay leaves and cloves for the béchamel sauce were simpler to a recipe I currently use except I pop all these ingredients, along with some parsley stalks, into the milk and simmer for 10 minute (I never allow the milk to boil). I then turn the heat off and let it infuse and cool for 15 minutes. It brings another level of flavour to the dish which is delicate and aromatic.

I used the cheeses that Rachel had suggested in her book and followed the rest of her instructions. I also chopped and pan fried some smokey bacon and threw these in as well. The result was YUM YUM YUM! The cheese was stringy and the flavours were delightful. I expected it to be a heavy and overly rich dish but it was just nicely balanced. My partner didn’t want to give me his opinion of the dish straight away but I could tell by his third helping that Rachel’s mac ‘n’ cheese was a keeper! It was so good that my partner ate the majority of it that night and left me nothing of lunch the next day. We served the mac ‘n’ cheese with a simple refreshing lettuce and cucumber salad which was the ideal accompaniment.

This is something I’ll be making for friends next time they come over for dinner, that’s for sure.

I have to say that I did use quite a few dishes to make this meal but that’s just me; hurricane Indri in the kitchen. My poor partner is destined to be my dishwasher for life.
The only other comment I would make is that I would be more adventurous next time and buy a stronger tasting cheese to make the dish a little bit richer but this is just my personal opinion.

I can’t give you Rachel’s mac ‘n’ cheese recipe as it would not be kosher but the infused milk process can be found here.