Upgrade your macaroni cheese…

For four people you will need:
500g macaroni pasta
1 cauliflower
Frozen peas
Thin cut unsmoked bacon rashers

For the cheese sauce:
2 tablespoons of cornflour
50g butter
150g mature cheddar cheese, chopped into cubes
Three quarters of a pint of whole milk

You can’t beat a crowd-pleaser!

Preheat the oven to 180°C and put the bacon in an oven dish and into the oven.

Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the pasta with a little salt. Chop your cauliflower into florets and boil in a separate saucepan,

Check the bacon.

Now make the cheese sauce. In a saucepan pour in half the milk and add the cornflour (while the pan is still cold) and stir until the cornflour has dissolved. Now turn on the heat to a low temperature and, while stirring continuously, add the butter and the rest of the milk. When the sauce starts to thicken and bubble continue stirring for a few minutes (to allow for the cornflour to cook properly.) Add the cheese and continue to stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to make sure it doesn’t stick and once the sauce is thick and bubbling remove from the heat. Add a bit of black pepper to taste.

Get the bacon out the oven (if you haven’t already done so) and chop it into pieces. Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil and pour in a generous amount of frozen peas.

Now assemble the bake!

Pour the pasta into a large oven dish, pour over the cheese sauce, sprinkle in the bacon pieces, the cauliflower and peas and pop the dish into the oven on 180°C for about 15 minutes until the cauliflower and cheese sauce is starting to brown on top.