Instant Macaroni Cheese
This is essentially a Nigella Express recipe, but with a little less cheese - and no macaroni, because I use rigatoni or penne instead. The bigger shapes are better because they fill up with the sauce like miniature cannelloni. This quantity is perfect for one adult and one child, especially if the adult is ravenous. I know the evaporated milk makes it sound like one of those '4 Ingredients' dishes I was snooty about last week, but trust me, it really is good. And there aren't any dishes!
125g rigatoni or penne
1/2 cup evaporated milk (the 'lite' version is fine)
2-3 handfuls of grated cheddar
1 egg
pinch of smoked paprika and/or cayenne pepper
salt and pepper
a little extra grated cheese and some stale baguette, for crumbs
Preheat the oven to 200C. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. While it's cooking, mix all the other ingredients together in an ovenproof bowl big enough to take the pasta. Drain the pasta, then put it in the bowl with the cheese mixture and stir until it's well coated. Sprinkle over the extra cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden and crunchy on top. Be careful if giving this to a small child - the sauce is hotter than napalm.
What's your stress-busting dish of choice?
* I do know who wrote 'Comfort me with apples' (for I am sick of love) you know. I don't just sit around with my nose in a recipe book. (And it wasn't Ruth Reichl, neither.) Pin It
Macaroni cheese is definitely one of life's pleasures! I make mine with rigatoni too. My stress comfort food has to be lots of strong cheddar on toast with brown sauce!
ReplyDeletei like that its easier than making a cheese sauce which is what i usually do, gonna try it and feed it to the little peeps ....
ReplyDeleteoh and my partner jay likes sliced tomato on the top of his macaroni cheese eeeeewwwwwwwww
ReplyDeleteGod I am hating blogger and iPhone st the moment. I've lost so many comments! ... Essentially I live your mac n cheese but I never eat it. Which is stupid. Blah blah blah. Love ya x
ReplyDeleteMacaroni cheese is my ultimate comfort food....and I long for it. Thing is, we don't really have the weather for it here and cheese is soooo expensive and not good quality. Still, needs must....*prepares to jack up the air con and spend far too much money on cheese*
ReplyDeleteI want a dish of this...NOW please, have a nice weekend, hugs, Flavia
ReplyDeleteI need to try this recipe again, I managed to scramble the egg!
ReplyDeleteit's a goodie, isn't it? So quick - we use 3 minute pasta, not for taste, but just means you can attack your mac in minutes - and don't be scared of evaporated milk, I looked into it, and basically it is just a heat process that removes the water, so it actually has higher mineral content than normal milk.
ReplyDelete