Baked Mac & Cheese
Macaroni and wilted spinach in a proper mature-cheddar sauce under a crisp golden crust, with a sharp green salad to cut through it.
Per serving, as written.
Comfort food, done properly — macaroni bound in a real mature-cheddar sauce with a crisp crust on top. It’s rich by design, which is the whole point.
Most of the fat sits in the sauce, so that’s where a lighter version gives — a reduced-fat cheddar, or a béchamel built on cottage cheese or Greek yogurt for the same creamy body with a fraction of the fat. Going low-carb? Trade the macaroni for cauliflower and a carb-heavy classic becomes a low-carb bake without losing the cheese sauce you came for.
Undercooking the pasta slightly matters — it finishes cooking in the oven, so it won’t turn soft.
Ingredients
For the mac
- 250 g macaroni
- 200 g spinach
- 40 g butter
- 40 g plain flour
- 500 ml whole milk
- 200 g mature cheddar, grated
- 1 tsp English mustard
- 1 pinch grated nutmeg
- salt and pepper
For the crust
- 30 g breadcrumbs
- 20 g parmesan, grated
To serve
- a simple green salad with vinaigrette
Method
- Cook the macaroni in salted water until just shy of tender, about a minute less than the packet says. Drop the spinach into the same pan for the final 30 seconds, then drain both together.
- Lift the spinach out, squeeze it dry — in a clean tea towel or pressed against a sieve — and roughly chop it. Skipping this waters down the sauce.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook for a minute, then whisk in the milk a little at a time until you have a smooth sauce. Let it simmer and thicken for a few minutes.
- Off the heat, stir in the grated cheddar, mustard and nutmeg until the cheese melts into a glossy sauce. Season well.
- Fold the drained macaroni and the chopped spinach through the sauce and tip into a baking dish. Scatter over the breadcrumbs and parmesan.
- Bake at 200°C until bubbling and golden on top, about 20 minutes. Serve with the dressed green salad alongside.
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