The Ultimate Creamy Mac and Cheese: A Cozy Nostalgic Classic

This macaroni cheese recipe makes 4 servings.

The Ultimate Comfort Classic: My Go-To Mac 'n' Cheese

Macaroni cheese. This is a dish I've been wanting to make for a while now. Growing up in the UK, it was a regular on the dinner table homemade by my mum. This is a simple, no-fuss meal made with love. Since moving abroad, I've missed this dish, especially because I've never seen it ready-made in a supermarket or served as a dish in a restaurant where I live. So I set out to recreate it myself.

This recipe is my tribute to those childhood memories. It's easy, deeply satisfying, and designed to bring a little bit of home to your kitchen, wherever you are. Whether you call it macaroni cheese or mac 'n' cheese, this is the real deal.

The History of a Comfort Food Classic

While macaroni cheese feels quintessentially British, its origins are a bit of a global affair. Pasta and cheese dishes have been around for centuries, but the modern version we know and love has a rich and debated history. Some food historians trace it back to 14th-century Italy, while others point to a recipe in an 18th-century British cookbook.

The dish truly became a staple in the US thanks to Thomas Jefferson, who brought back a pasta machine from Paris and served macaroni and cheese at a state dinner. It was then popularized for the masses by Kraft in the 1930s with their boxed dinner. It's worth noting that while this dish uses pasta, it is not, in fact, an Italian dish. However, if it were, I like to think this from-scratch recipe is how they would make it.

Ingredients

• Macaroni - 250g macaroni pasta
• Flour - 70g plain flour
• Butter - 70g unsalted butter
• Milk - 700 ml milk
• Cheese - 210g cheddar cheese
• Mustard - 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• Salt - ½ tsp salt
• Pepper - ¼ white ground pepper
• Nutmeg - fresh ground nutmeg
• Tomato - 1 sliced tomato
• a splash of Worcestershire source

Cooking Instructions

1. Cook the macaroni in salted water. As we are going to bake it in the oven, cook it less done than normal. The brand I use takes 13 minutes, so I cook it for 7 minutes for macaroni cheese.
2. Melt the butter over a medium heat in a saucepan slightly larger than that used for the macaroni. Add the flour and stir to form a roux. Cook for a few minutes.
3. Gradually add the milk, a little at a time, stirring constantly. Cook for 10–15 minutes until you have a thickened and smooth sauce. We don't want the sauce to be too thick as it will thicken further in the oven. Add a dash of milk if needed. You can add salt and pepper if you wish, but I find that the cheese has plenty of salt.
4. Remove the sauce from the hob, add the mustard and 190g cheese and stir until it is well combined and the cheese has melted. I like to add a couple of splashes of Worcestershire source for a bit of added flavour.
5. Add the macaroni to the sauce and mix well. Transfer to a deep, suitably sized ovenproof dish.
6. Grate the remaining 30g cheese over the top of the macaroni.
7. Place the dish into a preheated 180℃ oven and cook for 20 minutes.
8. At the end of cooking, add the sliced tomatoes to the top. I like to grate a little more cheese over the tomatoes and grill for a couple of minutes.

Serve with a nice green salad for the perfect meal.