I don’t think there’s ever been a situation where I haven’t liked mac and cheese. Well, there might be those years when I was a toddler and all I ate was Weet-Bix (sounds familiaaaaaar), but in all the years I’ve been conscious of cheese, I’ve loved mac and cheese.
Having said that, I’m pretty sure I’ve never made it with actual macaroni. I should rectify this. I usually make it with some kind of small pasta (shells are good) and more sauce than you think you need. More cheese, too. Aaaaaand more salt.
Nothing worse than a stodgy bowl of not much flavour. Especially when you were SO looking forward to a bowl of mac and cheese, and especially when you’ve grown accustomed to salty processed box mac and cheese which, given the chance, I will still eat.
But the crispy top on this gets me every damn time. Plus there’s tons, and it reheats well the next day, and that’s basically the holy grail of mac and cheese for me. I hope you like it.
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PinDescription
d cheese with sweet sundried tomatoes. You won’t regret it!
Ingredients
- 2–3 cups dried small pasta
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup white flour
- 1/2 Small onion
- 2 Large cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 cups Whole milk
- 1 Small bay leaf
- 1/4 teaspoon good dijon mustard
- 2 cups grated tasty cheese
- 1 cup sundried (or semi-dried) tomatoes, halved (if using sundried tomatoes, rehydrate in a boiling water to cover for 10 minutes first)
- 50g feta cheese
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C.
- Bring to the boil a large pot of salted water. Cook pasta 10 minutes.
- In a large saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat and sweat the onion and garlic for a few minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook 1 minute.
- Add the milk to the butter and flour roux, whisking all the while. Add bay leaf and mustard.
- Whisk until the sauce bubbles and thickens. Take off the heat and add the cheese, stirring to incorporate. Taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Drain your pasta and put in the casserole dish. Mix through the sundried tomato and feta.
- Stir through the sauce and cover with breadcrumbs and a little extra grated cheese.
- Bake 20-30 minutes until bubbling and golden-brown.
Keywords: mac and cheese, macaroni and cheese, tomato mac and cheese, sundried tomato macaroni and cheese
My hubby made a wonderful mac and cheese on Saturday with a some crispy breadcrumbs and bacon bits on top, that made it wonderful! I love the idea of the sundried tomatoes!!! xx
The crispy breadcrumbs really give it that edge!
Oooh it looks delicious. Mac n’ cheese is my favourite comfort food. Gimme, gimme!
Me too! That and mashed potatoes.
Oh gosh, yes. A few years ago I had a brutal tooth abscess/root canal situation and my face hurt so much all I could eat was mashed potatoes. My fave pub made a red potato mash thing that was HEAVENLY.
That’s the best! I got my tongue pierced at one point, and could only eat mush. Mashed potato to the rescue!
I had a very similar experience. I survived off of Lipton chicken noodle soup 😉
That looks seriously scrumptious! Love a crusty top. This is my husband’s favourite food and the recipe looks like something even I could handle. By the way those lettuce cupcakes in yesterday’s post were outstanding. I tried to comment but things were being silly on my computer. I loved the little signs 🙂
hahah they looked ridiculous, but I think the signs gave them some context 😉
I think you’ve taken mac to the next level. I’ve tried to convince myself for a while that cauli cheese is just as good but lets be honest here, you can’t beat the mac. Might be putting this on the menu next week. Yum!
Ah, but have you tried this? http://theveggiemama.com/2011/10/healthy-mac-and-cheese/
Tasty cheese and feta? Damn girl – NAILED IT.
Haha ALL OF THE CHEESE! Sometimes I even add mozzarella…
Whoa that recipe might just get 12 yr old vegetarian lass who HATES pasta to maybe, just maybe, like it.. 😛
It’s really more cheese than it is pasta 😉 Good luck!
Salivating! Unfortunately husband has an aversion to white sauce of any description….
noooooo! I passed by his office on Tuesday and thought of you guys 🙂
Might try this with my girls. They are loving pasta bakes at the moment.
Ooh I hope they like it! Neither of mine will eat this 🙁
holy mac and cheese batman. i freaking love macaroni and cheese. so. much.
God, so do I. What would the world be like if it wasn’t available? HORRIBLE.
I haven’t really made mac and cheese much – I made a ‘version’ the other day for Mr Moo with chicken breast and lots of veggies (so probably more of a pasta bake then mac and cheese), but this sounds good!
Mac and cheese pretty much is pasta bake, but nobody told the Americans that 🙂
I made this tonight and added some bacon too. It was amazing!!! My hubby and I both LOVED it! Thanks for the great recipe 🙂 xxx
I’ll have to take your word for it! Everything’s better with bacon 😉