Macaroni cheese: a Thermomix recipe

I made this yesterday.  It was such a hugely big hit with everyone I thought I'd post the recipe, even though it is fairly well known anyway.

From Google Images - as usual, I forgot to take any photos, sorry.

I used Thermione for the cheese sauce and for cooking the macaroni, so if you have one, just look in the accompanying book for instructions both for cheese sauce (I added extra cheese) and for cooking pasta

This is what I did.

Ingredients to make good helpings for five
For the sauce:
50g cornflour or (plain flour) - use 40g if you don't want a thick sauce
80g strong cheddar, cut into chunks
20g Parmesan or equivalent, also cut into chunks
1/4 tsp mustard powder
a pinch of cayenne
salt and pepper to taste
400g milk

250g macaroni

A little more finely grated cheese for topping

Method:
First, make the cheese sauce.
Put all the ingredients except the salt and the milk in the bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 5.

Add the milk and cook for 6 minutes on speed 4.  Then taste, add a little salt if needed (the cheese is often enough) and cook for two minutes more on 4.

Pour into a dish, scrape the bowl and cover the sauce with cling film, pushing the film right down to the surface of the sauce to avoid a skin forming.

Then cook the macaroni.
Place the bowl back on the base (no need to wash it) and add the basket.
Measure in 250g macaroni.
Add enough boiling water to almost cover the macaroni.  Add 1 tsp salt and briefly mix (a few seconds on 6)

Preheat the oven to 200C

Cook the macaroni at 100/speed 4 for 20 mins.  Check after ten minutes and top up with boiling water if needed.  I also broke up the clumping pasta with the spatula a few times as it cooked.

When the macaroni is cooked, tip it into a large bowl, add the cheese sauce and fold it all in so that the macaroni is covered.  It can be frozen at this point.

(after this, the bowl should be fairly clean and will only need minimal scrubbing)

Tip the cheesy pasta into an oven proof dish, sprinkle over the finely grated cheese and pop into the oven until the top is browning nicely.
Serve straight away.


If you are serving it later, make it up to the last stage and allow to cool, covered.  Then bake it in a medium oven to re-heat for about 290 mins, turning the heat up at the end if it needs more browning.

If it is from the freezer, allow to defrost thoroughly before sprinkling over some grated cheese, re-heating and browning.

If you don't have a Thermomix, there are a lot of sauce recipes online.  Here's a couple you could use.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/anykindofcheesesauce_70007
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cheesesauce_1299
Don't be afraid to add extra cheese if necessary and mustard and cayenne go beautifully in a cheese sauce, as does nutmeg.  If you like them, use them.