Applewood Smoked Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese

The weight of my craving for macaroni and cheese lately had grown too much to bear. I had to do SOMETHING. Sorry Kraft and Velveeta, you just aren't going to do.

Kraft: Too powdery and synthetic tasting. You were fine when I was six years old (OK probably closer to 16). The truth is, there's too much good cheese in the world (and especially the UK) to go using a powdered cheese. They don't even sell it over here.

Velveeta: The English have a word for the consistency of the "cheese" Velveeta uses: gloopy. No thanks. Oh, and it's TOTALLY processed. Yuck.

Instead, I opted for the slightly sharp, applewood-smoked Cheddar, made right here in England. I had such a craving for this smoked cheese the other day, I had to make a late-night dash to the store to get some.

So here we have it. Not too hard to throw together and the payoff.....magnificent. The sauce wasn't terribly thick and it clung nicely to each and every macaroni noodle. Walked away feeling satisfied without feeling heavy.

This is my first recipe for mac -n- cheese. I think it's a winner. We did them in individual little crocks, but you could do them in a little baking dish as well. Let the cheese go a little crusty on top... it's delicious.

250 g good-quality macaroni
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a knob of butter
a small bunch of fresh marjoram or oregano, leaves picked
150 g applewood smoked Cheddar cheese, freshly grated, plus extra for grating
splash of double cream
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
nutmeg, grated

Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Cook the macaroni in a pan of salted boiling water 2 minutes short of the timing on the packet instructions, then drain in a colander and reserve a little of the cooking water. Heat the butter in a large heavy based frying pan. When it starts to foam, add the marjoram or oregano and fry for a minute until it starts to crisp up, then turn off the heat.



Add your cooked pasta to the marjoram or oregano butter, along with a couple of spoonfuls of the reserved cooking water, the cream and the all but 1/4 cup of the cheese. Return to a medium heat and toss and stir around until most of the cheese has melted and you have a lovely gooey sauce - you may need to add a little more of the reserved cooking water. Season to taste, then tip it all into two earthenware pots. Toss the Parmesan in. Grate over the nutmeg.



Bake the macaroni cheese in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Top with the remaining cheese and finish up under the broiler, until golden brown and crispy on top.