Baked Mac and Cheese

Mac and cheese outside the home is usually wayyyy too heavy for my liking. Does it have to be aaaaall cheese? Or loaded to the top with cream? Or filled with gluggy, goopy pasta and basically no other flavour? No, no and no. I usually end up pushing such a dish away in a couple of bites.

So what I’ve been making for years now, is a basic ‘white sauce’ or bechamel, call it what you may, but lightened up. A restrained amount of cheese, and usually finished with sautéed mushrooms and peppers before being tossed with pasta and wolfed down. But when my Mom told me one day that she amped up her impromptu one-person pasta by baking it with a layer of breadcrumbs, I sat around thinking about it for a while. Why hadn’t this struck me yet?

Because when a creamy (but not cream-y) herb-y, garlic-y sauce is mixed up with filling (but not goopy) wholewheat pasta, topped with smoked mozzarella or really, any kind of cheese, then finished with breadcrumbs and bits of garlic, the result is truly magical. You will cut into a crusty, toasty layer on top, before you meet the soft, flavourful mac and cheese of your dreams. And the best part, it hasn’t actually put you to sleep.

The reason I’m so pleased with this ‘made-for-one’ dish is it saves you that weird situation where cooking for just yourself seems like far too much trouble. In just about an hour, you will have a terrific meal ready with very few ingredients, ones that you probably already have in the kitchen.

While this mac and cheese isn’t strictly ‘macaroni’, I always use only wholewheat pasta at home and have grown to love it so much, it’s now my go-to for anything pasta related.

To give the sauce a bit of richness without overdoing it, I usually add a little shredded cheddar but since I had run out, I used sour cream instead. Cream cheese would be great too! The idea is to add just a little bit of luxury to the sauce. The sauce also has plenty of seasoning and dried herbs but the star of it all is the garlic that’s lightly fried in butter just before you pour the milk in, and then sprinkled on top as well. This means that your first bite isn’t going to be just a bland milky flavour, but one that will have you licking the bowl clean. If that isn’t comforting, I don’t know what is 🙂

Mac and Cheese For One

An easy, flavourful mac and cheese with wholewheat pasta, garlic, herbs and toasty breadcrumbs!

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 50 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr

Makes: 1 serving

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Ingredients

  

For the pasta

• 1 cup heaped dried wholewheat pasta, penne or fusilli is what I normally use
• 3 cups water
• 1 tbsp salt

For the sauce

• 2 tbsps butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 and 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp paprika or chill flakes
• 1 tsp mixed herb seasoning, optional

For the topping

• Cheddar or mozzarella cheese as needed
• 2 tbsps breadcrumbs

Instructions

• In a large pot, add the water and salt, stir and bring to a boil. Add the pasta, cover and leave to cook for about 15 to 20 minutes, or till the pasta has softened but still has a little bite. Drain and set aside. Preheat the oven to 180 C.
• Meanwhile, make the sauce. Melt the butter in a pan and add the garlic, stirring for a few seconds. Add the flour and mix a paste forms and you get a nutty aroma. Slowly add the milk, bit by bit, and stir constantly to prevent lumps.
• Once all the milk is in, add the salt and pepper, oregano, paprika and mixed seasoning (if using). Let the sauce simmer on low heat for about 2 minutes while you slowly stir as it thickens. When it bubbles gently, turn off the heat, add the shredded cheese and mix it in. Stir well.
• Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and stir well to coat every bit of it.
• Tip the whole thing into a small baking dish, about 5" wide. Top with a few thin slices of mozzarella, then the breadcrumbs. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the cheese has melted and the breadcrumbs look toasty. Turn the oven to the broil setting at 150 C if you'd like further browning. Eat hot!