Heston Blumenthal Mac and Cheese (half batch)

Serves: —

main pasta cheese baked british

Ingredients

Panko Topping

  • 50 g butter
  • 50 g panko
  • 2–3 sage leaves (half of 5)
  • 1 g fresh thyme, picked
  • 25 g panko breadcrumbs
  • salt and black pepper

Macaroni

  • 1 l water
  • 10 g salt
  • 250 g macaroni
  • oil, a splash, for tossing drained pasta

Cheese Sauce

  • 300 g white wine
  • 300 g chicken stock
  • half a sprig of thyme
  • half a sprig of rosemary
  • 0.5 tbsp black peppercorns
  • 50 g Gruyère (half grated for sauce, half cubed to fold in)
  • 50 g American cheese slices
  • 15 g corn flour (cornstarch)
  • 80 g soft cream cheese
  • 2.5 g Dijon mustard

Instructions

Panko Topping

  1. Pick the thyme and finely chop the sage.
  2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
  3. Continue to swirl the butter as the solids turn golden brown and start to smell biscuity.
  4. Remove from the heat, drop in the herbs, and allow to cool slightly.
  5. Stir through the panko and panko breadcrumbs; season with salt and pepper.

Macaroni

  1. Bring a pan of the water and salt to a rolling boil.
  2. Add the macaroni and cook until al dente.
  3. Drain, toss in a splash of oil, and set aside.

Cheese Sauce And Assembly

  1. Add the chicken stock, thyme, rosemary, and peppercorns to a saucepan. Bring to the boil on medium-high heat, then turn off the heat and leave to infuse.
  2. Pour the white wine into a saucepan and reduce on medium heat until you have roughly 30 g of wine reduction left.
  3. Strain the stock into the pan with the wine reduction and turn the heat to low.
  4. Finely slice the American cheese and grate half the Gruyère (25 g).
  5. Put all the American cheese and grated Gruyère in a bowl, add the corn flour, and mix until combined.
  6. Add the cheese and corn flour mixture to the pan of reduced wine and stock, whisking continuously until the cheese has melted and the sauce thickens.
  7. Transfer a small amount of the sauce to a mixing bowl. Whisk in the cream cheese and Dijon until fully incorporated, then whisk this slurry back into the main sauce until smooth.
  8. Fold the pasta through the sauce until combined. Cut the remaining Gruyère into small cubes and fold through. Season with salt and pepper.
  9. Transfer to an ovenproof dish, top with the brown butter panko, and bake at 180 °C for about 15 minutes until golden.

Notes

Amounts are half of the original recipe (serves fewer / smaller bake).

If both panko lines feel redundant, use 75 g panko breadcrumbs total for the topping.