Macaroni & Cheese

i posted on ile about wanting that pan for my birthday. it looks awesome.

Mac & Cheese in the oven *right now*. It's Nigel Slater's recipe from Kitchen Diaries, with Fontina, Pecorino, breadcrumbs, dijon mustard and grain mustard. Will report back, but the spoon-licking bodes well for the finished item. I don't half wish I had one of those pans.

Hmmm. The topping was marvellous - a 50/50 mix of pecorino and breadcrumbs - but the stuff underneath was only OK. Not nearly cheesy enough for my liking. Sorry Nige.

Did it need more cheese d'ya think, or just different cheese? I came home last night w/ a big mac&cheese craving to a fridge full of cheese, but no pasta to be found. The loaf of bread I baked on Sunday will make terrific crumbs in a few more days though, so I'm planning a big pan of golden cheesy buttery goodness for the weekend.

i have a hunk of elderly cheddar in the fridge, but i don't think it's enough for m&c. sad face. it might be enought for cauliflower cheese, though...

The Fontina was pretty pokey, but I don't think 75g was enough (for 175g of pasta). If I did it again I'd use twice as much. Also, you couldn't tell there was mustard in it, really, apart from grainy speckling.

fuck it imna make some for lunch

i made it

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/246/macncheesegu7.jpg

uh maybe better? http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/246/macncheesegu7.jpg

i made the cauliflower cheese last night. it was wicked.

My cheese sauce broke and was grainy last time. Tasted fine but looked & felt odd. I haven't really investigated why yet, maybe I used too much hard cheese? Maybe too much heat, maybe lots of things. The cookbook wasn't very scientific about the recipe, I'm afraid.

https://i.imgur.com/fWCzbjr.jpg
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1812-the-best-macaroni-and-cheese
So much better than my old bechamel-based recipe. Repeated stirring & adding milk & cheese is key.
Forgot the bread crumbs, obvs.