By Tript Arora

This  Mac and cheese recipe is a total comfort food. It is an excellent side dish and can be a main dish too when you want a quick and simple dinner. The elbow macaroni is first boiled and later wrapped in a creamy cheesy homemade sauce . It can be made in two versions. The first one is simple. Boil the macaroni and let it drain. Meanwhile make cheesy creamy Bechamel Sauce and mix Macroni in that sauce and Enjoy. The other one is to mix macaroni and sauce and then bake it with bread crumbs in an oven. I will suggest you try the second version. The macaroni in cream and cheese with a layer of crunchy bread crumbs tastes awesome. Do try.

We need

For Boiling Macaroni: 1 Cup Elbow Macaroni, 4 Cups Water, 1 Tsp Salt,

For Making Cheese Sauce: 2 Tbsp All purpose flour ( Maida), 2 Tbsp Butter, 500 ml Cold Milk, 1 Tsp Black Pepper Powder, ½ Tsp Nutmeg Powder, 1.25 Cups of Shredded Cheese preferably mix of cheddar and Mozzarella.

Salt ½ Tsp or as required, Bread Crumbs Topping, 1 Cup Bread Crumbs, 2 Tbsp Butter, 2 Tbsp Shredded Mozzarella Cheese.

Here We Go

–           Take 4 cups of water in a pan. Add salt to it. When it starts boiling add one cup Macaroni pasta to it.

–           Gently stir while boiling so that pasta doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. When pasta is al dente ,( it will take 5 to 7 minutes) drain it in a colander. To stop further cooking of the pasta add cold water to it. Drain it completely.

–           Meanwhile, take a baking dish and coat it with butter, that is if you want to bake it with bread crumbs topping. . Preheat the oven at 180 degrees celsius for ten minutes.

–           Heat a pan and add 2 Tbsp of butter to it. As the butter starts melting and frothing add all purpose flour to it. Keep stirring so that lumps are not formed. You will see the bubbles forming in flour. Saute till the raw smells go off and you can smell a nice aroma. Do not brown it otherwise it will spoil the colour of Bechamel Sauce.

–           When the flour is done, keep the flame to lowest and slowly add cold milk to it in a smooth stream. However keep on stirring the sauce to avoid the formation of lumps. Keep on stirring till you get a thick sauce. Take a spoon and dip the back of the spoon in the sauce. If The sauce coats the spoon, your sauce is done. Remove the pan from flame .

–           After one minute, add shredded cheese to it. Mix well till you get a creamy white sauce.

–           Add black pepper powder and nutmeg powder to it  Since there is salt in the cheese, add salt only after tasting the sauce .

–           Add boiled pasta to the sauce and mix well with a spoon till each pasta is coated with cheese sauce. You can also have it like this. But if you prefer to bake then let us follow the next step.

–           Add 2 Tbsp of melted butter to the bread crumbs. Coat them well with butter. Also Mix Tbsp of mozzarella cheese to the bread crumbs.

–           In the greased baking dish pour the macaroni mixed with white sauce. Spread it evenly in the dish. Top it with bread crumbs which we previously mixed with butter and cheese.

–           Put it in the preheated oven. Bake it at 180 degrees celsius for 10 minutes or till you see the golden crust on top.

Total Cooking Time : 40 minutes. Serves : 2

Tips: The perfect boiled pasta is when you can cut it with a knife. It should not be overdone otherwise it will become soggy and won’t hold the shape. You can add finely chopped veggies for extra nutrition.