Thursday, March 19, 2020

On the MENU This Week. Bailey’s Microwave Macaroni


As we are at home sheltering, we are using lots of ingredients from our stock cupboard. And we do feel the need for some comfort food occasionally in these trying times. We have shared this before, but thought you might like to try this again. Don’t make it in advance; it does go a bit soggy but, fresh from the oven, it is completely delicious. And for those of us with milk allergies or intolerance, the lactose free milk from Woolworths or Checkers works so well. You also need your greens so do make this with a good very mixed salad to get those vitamins. We had it with a good, rich and juicy red wine. See our Wine of the Week

We are not great advocates of actually cooking in the microwave, that wonderful tool for melting chocolate and gelatine, heating things, defrosting, and making sauces. Lynne is always on the hunt for the perfect macaroni cheese and this recipe, given to her by her friend Denise, comes pretty damn close. We had to climb down off our high horses; this is delicious, and quick. It’s also a great dish to make if you are busy doing something else, like painting the lounge or making curtains….
60ml butter – 1 medium onion, chopped – 15 ml dry mustard – 30g flour – 1 tsp salt
500 ml milk, combined with 300 ml water – 250g macaroni
200gm grated cheddar cheese – extra cheese – Optional: 1 tomato – parsley
In a large Pyrex or Corningware dish, combine the butter and onion and microwave for 2 minutes on full power. Mix mustard, flour, salt and liquid, then pour this over the onion. Put in the macaroni and microwave uncovered on full power for 6 minutes. Stir. Reduce power level to 50% and microwave for 20 minutes, stirring twice during cooking. If necessary, add a little extra milk to retain a creamy texture. Add the cheese and mix well. Microwave on full power for 2 minutes. Garnish with tomato and chopped parsley if you like. You can put extra grated cheese on top and flash under the grill if you need the traditional crispy topping we like.
This is supposed to serve 4 (Ha! not in our greedy house).

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