Macaroni cheese

Lillibet_2

My all time favourite meal!

I sometimes do it with Kidney beans or very small brocolli florets, for comfort food try topping with some toasted bread crumbs, but to be honest I don't think you can beat it just plain with lashings of garlic bread:D

Loadsabob

I adore this, too, but am quite unadventurous and dead-set on having it only one way, which you probably have had!

I always make the cheese sauce around fried onions and mushrooms (I use a little mustard in the sauce to bring out the cheese flavour), and always top with cheese, breadcrumbs (from my own wholewheat seeded bread, so there are bits of sunflower seed and pumpkin seed in the topping) and a sliced tomato. Then we serve it with crispy smoky bacon. My boyfriend has the real stuff, and I have the fake veggie stuff, on the side of the maccaroni.

I make the sauce with wholewheat flour, and use wholewheat macaroni, too, which I find gives it even more depth and homeliness...and goodness!

sorry, that's not a very inspiring response!

MATH

I make it with a tine of tuna and a tin of sweetcorn stirred in to ring the changes or I add a tin of chopped tomatoes and a tin of sliced hot dog sausages (yes I know they're full of all kinds of nasties but we like them:o )

Jess_B

I love Macaroni Cheese!

Delia Smith does a good one with leeks and bacon in and bread crumbs on top. But I agree it is best on its own with a little mustard in it and garlic bread. Yum Yum!!

Downsizing__for_sanity

I always used to add some spring onions, sliced thinly (white AND green bits - why do a lot of people/recipes not use the green bits? Not very MS!) and some cherry tomatoes, quartered. Add a little bit of garlic, if you like it, and maybe some torn up basil leaves?

Or hotdog sausages, chopped up the ones in the jar (I think Lidl do these quite cheaply) not the super-cheap tinned ones made from MRM, with oven-roasted cherry tomatoes. Oops I think MATH already posted one like that.

It just depends how hungry you are on the day, or what's in the fridge. (I used to make it to add all the wilting bits of veg and meat in the fridge at the end of the week that my ex-boyfriend would have chucked out and then asked me "what's for dinner?")

DFS

pavlovs_dog

MIL does the most amaaaaazing macaroni cheese, it is just out of this world.

she puts a layer of breadcrumbs down before the cheese topping, makes it go nices and crispy.

and i eat it with a blob of tommy sauce on the side, cos i dont like tinned tomatoes on their own.

you got me all hungry now

Flimber

You know those jars of chargrilled red peppers you can buy ? (They can be goten cheap in Home Bargains, LIDL etc) Well, get some MC in the bottom of an ovenable dish, lay out some of the peppers and then top if off with the rest of the MC. Oven it for a while and crispy up the top w/ wholemeal breadcrumbs and finely-grated cheddar. Twist of black pepper after it's done.

Variations we go for are quorn slices chopped up and added (if making it in a pan). And smoked paprika for seasoning (that's a good'un !). Cherry tomatoes always work well too. Oh, and single cream in the cheese sauce if making it yourself. It's from Satan himself but if God was bothered he'd have stopped me by now

Serve and enjoy.

bugs

I generally make cauliflower cheese, with pasta in it, for a complete meal. I start off with leeks or mushrooms and make the cheese sauce around them like Loadsabob, and then it's quite flavoursome, with plenty of veg in. Flimber's pepper idea sounds fab.

[Deleted User]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I shall be experimenting!

KTFrugal

I saute some garlic and oregano in olive oil, then make the roux from that base. You can use less cheese if you add mustard to the sauce, as you do and also if you make a gratin layer of parmesan and breadcrumbs. Something to do with tasting the cheese first in the crunchy layer helps you to get away with it.