Macaroni Cheese

Ingredients

• 350 g macaroni
• 50 g butter
• 40 g plain flour
• 600 ml milk
• 250 g grated cheese
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 40 g breadcrumbs
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Cook the macaroni a minute short of the packet time — it gets more cooking in the oven.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook it for a minute so it stops tasting of raw flour.
3. Add the milk a splash at a time, whisking each one in before the next. It'll look wrong and then suddenly it won't. Keep stirring until it thickens.
4. Off the heat, stir in most of the cheese and the mustard. Season it properly — a sauce this rich takes more salt than you'd expect.
5. Fold the pasta through, tip it into a baking dish, and scatter the rest of the cheese and the breadcrumbs over. 20 minutes at 200°C until the top is brown and it's bubbling at the edges.