Recipe: Very cheesy pasta (fancy “macaroni cheese”)

This is a more complicated, but much tastier, version of the student’s favourite - it is a relatively simple and quick-and-easy dinner, but avoids the use of a roux and therefore doesn’t taste floury or gloopy like other cheese sauces.  The cheese sauce is based on a recipe by Heston Blumenthal, but significantly adapted.  If meat is required, chopped up fried bacon (or alternatively a tin of tuna) can be added before baking.  Serves 2.

Ingredients

Approx 150 g dried pasta (e.g. penne, fusilli, macaroni)

1 white onion - finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic - finely chopped

Sweetcorn (either a small tin, or one cob)

Approx 80 g blue cheese (e.g. Roquefort or Stilton) - chopped

Approx 80 g hard cheese (e.g. Beaufort or Emmental) - grated

A small tub (approx 200 g) of cream cheese

A couple of slices of white bread

Parmesan cheese

100 ml white wine

100 ml vegetable or chicken stock

Cornflour

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Method

Blend the bread to make fine breadcrumbs.  Spread over a wide oven dish , and dry out in a warm oven (100°C conventional / 80° fan / gas mark 1 or lower) until golden

Add a generous splash of olive oil to a small frying pan, and fry the onion for a few minutes until soft.  Add the garlic and sweetcorn (if using corn on the cob, boil the cob first for 5 minutes then slice of the kernels using a sharp knife), and fry for another few minutes

Put the pasta, with a generous pinch of salt and small splash of olive oil, in a large pan of water.  Boil according to packet instructions, normally around 10-15 minutes.  It wants to be slightly more al dente than would normally be eaten.  Drain

Combine the white wine and stock in a small pan, and boil furiously until reduced by half.  Remove from the heat, and add the rind from the hard cheese.  Leave to sit for around 20 minutes

Meanwhile, add a tablespoon of cornflour to the grated hard cheese and stir

Remove the rind, then on a low heat stir in the grated cheese until melted.  Add the blue cheese, and again keep stirring until melted.  Add the cream cheese - not all of it may be needed, so just adjust according to consistency.  It should end up being fairly thick and creamy

 In a large oven dish, combine the pasta and the onion, garlic and sweetcorn.  If using fried bacon pieces or tinned tuna, add now.  Stir, then pour over the cheese sauce.  Top with the breadcrumbs, a generous covering of Parmesan cheese, and black pepper.  Bake in a preheated oven (200°C conventional / 180° fan / gas mark 4) for 20 minutes.  Serve.