By Bernhard Pucher
This, like the ribs, was an amalgamation of two different recipes and a bit of inspiration and luck by both Arianna and me. Here’s what happened:
Ingredients:
– macaroni pasta 500g
– Grated Medium cheddar 300g (buy a block and grate yourself, don’t buy pre-grated. Doesn’t melt as well!)
– Grated Gruyère 200g (ditto!)
– 250ml butter milk
– 2 tbsp Sour cream
– 6 tbsp flour
– 6 tbsp butter
– Chopped Coriander to taste
– Salt, pepper to taste
– Finely chopped white onion
– Home made Bread crumbs [FYI: We always have them around as we make Schnitzel regularly. We simply chop up a large loaf of white bread, toast it in the oven at 150*c for 30 mins and then blitz them in a food processor. This is so much better than ANY packaged crumbs!!!]
Process:
Prepare all ingredients before starting the Roux. Once you start, there’s no stopping (it gets lumpy and burns easily), so be ready!
Cook Macaroni in pot until 2/3 done (very al dente).
In pan, fry chopped onion in a spoon of oil until soft.
Lower heat and add butter until it melts. Slowly & gradually add buttermilk and flour while stirring. KEEP STIRRING until thick. It’s really important not to stop so it doesn’t clump and stays creamy.
Add 3/4 of grated cheeses gradually. Let it fully melt between each handful. Keep stirring.
Add salt and pepper to taste. You can add chillies at this stage (We chose not to because of the spiciness of the ribs).
[Because it’s a fatty dish with lots of dairy, you might need more pepper/chilli than you think to make an impact.]
Add chopped coriander.
Pre-heat oven on grill/upper heat setting to 190 deg.
Mix the cheese sauce and al dente pasta together in a casserole/table dish.
Cover with remaining cheese.
Then cover with breadcrumbs.
Put in oven for 30 minutes. When done, it’ll come out golden brown and toasty on top.
