IN THE POT | BUTTONTREE LANE’S MUM’S MACARONI CHEESE

…the picture that started it all…

A couple of weeks ago I posted on Instagram that I was having Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for dinner. Now Kraft Macaroni and Cheese was a staple of our dinner menu when we were kids (we didn’t have it every week but it was there enough to make it feel like we saw it often).  My Brother and I loved it.

However a couple of years ago Kraft in their infinite wisdom decided to change the recipe and now it’s nowhere near as good as it used to be. Sure, we still have it but that’s because I haven’t yet found a recipe to replace it with.

But I’m working on it…

Anyways, back to the Instagram photo.  I posted the picture and then a few minutes later Michelle (of Buttontree Lane) posted a comment on the photo:

“Yuck! Have you ever made my macaroni cheese? It’s 1094563 times more awesome. Recipe on the blog from a few years ago.”

Well that was a challenge if ever I heard one!

Challenge accepted my friend, challenge accepted!

So I went looking for the infamous Macaroni Cheese.  (You can find the recipe here.)

Now because it’s a family recipe it’s not an exact science so here’s how I played it:

Michelle’s Mum’s Macaroni Cheese

5 x large Fresh Tomatoes

1 x large onion, diced

2 cups Grated Cheddar Cheese

1 x Packet Macaroni Pasta, cooked

White sauce:

60g butter

2 tablespoons plain flour

2 cups milk

1 – 2 cups grated cheese

1. Pasta: Cook the pasta as per packet instructions, or your preferred method. Drain and put to one side.

[Before you start on the white sauce preheat the oven to 200ºC and prepare your tomatoes, onion, grated cheese and the dish you’re going to make it all up in.  (I used a lasagne dish, but Michelle uses a big Pyrex casserole dish.) The original recipe advises to grease the dish you’re planning on using, but as mine was glass I didn’t bother.  This is a personal choice, so if you want you can grease the dish.]

2. White sauce: Melt the butter on a medium heat in a saucepan.  (I tend to have a hotter temperature and keep moving the saucepan off and on to the heat as I need to.  You need to watch this sauce and be stirring it at all times. It burns easily and once it does there’s no saving it you have to start again.)

Add 1 tablespoon of the flour and stir until combined.  Once combined add the next tablespoon of flour.  Stir the mixture until there are no lumps in it (doesn’t usually take long to do).

Gradually add the milk and stir until combined before adding more milk.  (You don’t want to swamp the sauce so add a little, mix until combined then add some more – trust me you’ll be tempted to add it all at once, don’t do it! It’s a much better sauce if you take your time!)

Once the milk has been added gradually add the grated cheese, add more cheese once the previous amount has melted. (I usually add a half a cup at a time… I make it with 2 cups of cheese because we like it cheesy – and I’m not just talking about the sauce!)

[I followed Michelle’s advice and made the sauce really cheesy and not too wet.]

3. Once the white sauce is made take it off the heat and immediately mix it through your cooked macaroni.

4. Place one third of the macaroni and white sauce mixture on the bottom of the dish, then layer ¼ cup of grated cheese, half the diced onion, half the sliced tomatoes, season with a little salt and pepper.  Repeat this step another 2 times.

5. Sprinkle the remaining grated cheese over the top of the dish and place in the oven to bake for 30 – 35 minutes (or until the top is golden brown).  (Michelle advises that if you want the onion to be less crunchy bake at 180ºC for longer.)

Source: Buttontree Lane

Note: This makes a mountain of the stuff (it filled a full size lasagne dish!) which is great because it freezes beautifully (I always hear Daryl Hannah (in Steel Magnolias) in my head when I say freezes beautifully… Annelle: “It’s in the Freezes Beautifully section of my cookbook and I want to take something that freezes beautifully!”) which means you can have it again and again and again without having to make it again and again and again.  It’s great on toast as a morning after meal too!

We had it with chicken schnitzel (we’ve eaten a lot of schnitzels lately… we should call this the house of schnitzel!) and it was awesome.  I’m not a fan of onion so next time I make it I might leave that out… but HUBBY likes onion so maybe I’ll do a his and hers half and half.

I also don’t like a lot of tomato so I tended to have some and pick the rest out.  HUBBY on the other hand polished his plate off.  I gave some of the macaroni (minus the onion and tomato) to the Little Man and he was a fan as well.  (Had it all over his face!)

Will this replace my Kraft Mac and Cheese obsession, probably not.  Will I make it again, hells yeah – it’s pasta and cheese, I’m totally there!