How do you define comfort food? In my view, it could be anything that is warm, easy to put together, and enough to evoke a sense of nostalgia. While my list of Indian comfort food is vast and varied, I am also a big fan of American and Italian cuisine and the options they have on offer to satiate my ‘comfort food cravings’. Much before I acquainted myself with Penne and Spaghetti, macaroni was the only pasta I knew of. My mother would cook it in a tomato-based sauce and I would lick my plate clean in a matter of seconds. Then we got our very first microwave oven and tried making Mac n’ Cheese from the recipe book that came alongside. We found the recipe a bit too cumbersome, so we tweaked it, and the results were more than amazing. ‘Simplicity’ is the USP of this American classic. It is essentially macaroni, cheese, cream and herbs baked or cooked together. And yet, there are innumerable ways in which you can completely botch this up. Follow these steps to save yourself from such a travesty.
- Choose your cheese well. The key to good mac and cheese is good cheese sauce, for which you need a cheese that melts easily and has a milky comfort and flavourful sharpness to it. Thus, many experts place their bets on cheddar. Mozzarella will make it necessarily gooey.
- Make sure you boil your pasta very well with ample salt and a little bit of oil to ensure the pasta does not stick to each other. A tsp for a cup of macaroni should be enough.
- Making the sauce is the tricky part. Take the pan and add the cream followed by shredded cheese. Wait till the cream is bubbly to add the cheese.
- Make sure the flame is medium, when you are warming the cheese, else you will end up burning your cheese. Also, add salt and pepper around the same time you have added cheese. Warm it till the cheese has completely melted, and the cheese sauce is bubbly, stir occasionally.
- Drain the macaroni and pour the sauce all over it and mix slowly and carefully until the last macaroni is coated in the sauce. Trust us, you do not want to rush through this step.
- Serve hot. You can top it with any herbs of your choice or chilly sauce. The choice is yours.
Craving some hot mac n’ cheese? Here is the complete recipe you can follow. Do let us know how you liked it.