Macaroni cheese – ultimate comfort eating?

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After another week of solid rain and daytime darkness, I’m falling back on comfort food.

Anything with mash in/on it is my ultimate comfort dish I think, but macaroni cheese is a serious contender. Its big advantage being how quick and easy it is to cook and that it’s all storecupboard stuff.

I still remember being cooked my first macaroni cheese by friends in uni and being (discreetly) horrified that I was being served vegetarian food for tea. I’ve got over that initial shock now, but if I’m making this for a main meal I do usually add something to make it a bit more interesting. Crispy-fried bacon lardons, pancetta or chorizo are all good, as are sweet cheery tomatoes which explode into the sauce in the oven or a few mixed mushrooms.

So, while a pan of macaroni is boiling away (needs about 8 mins so that it’s just slightly underdone – it’ll go on cooking in the sauce) make a quick cheese sauce and put the oven on to preheat at about 180 degC.

I’ll use the strongest cheese I can find for the sauce – more flavour means using less cheese so it’s a bit healthier.

Stir any of the additional ingredients into the drained cooked pasta and pop into an ovenproof dish. Pour over the cheese sauce and grate more cheese on top – parmesan or gruyere are good for this as they’ll form a nice crispy crust. Which I guess cancels out the ‘bit healthier’ idea.

It’ll need 15-20 mins in the oven until the sauce is bubbling away, the top is golden brown and the cheese is all stringy and gooey.

Best served with hunks of crusty bread to mop up the sauce. OK, it’s really not going to win any weight watchers points is it – but everything in moderation…

It’s going to be a long winter apparently – any thoughts on the ultimate comfort food?