[LMB] AKICOT:L Cooking Macaroni Cheese

[James M. BRYANT G4CLF]

Blend plain flour with full-cream milk, freshly
ground black pepper and vegetable stock powder.
Ratio of flour to milk depends on how thick you
like your sauce. Bring to boil, stirring well
to avoid sticking and burning. Add grated cheese
and any other ingredients and again stir well
until the cheese dissolves in the sauce.

[Other ingredients may include Tabasco for those
who like it hot,
<http://www.desktopexchange.com/gallery/albums/Movie-Wallpapers/Some_like_it_hot_1024.jpg>
finely chopped ham or bacon, a little mustard, or,
definitely not to my taste, chopped tomato. A few
frozen peas or grains of sweet corn are pretty, but
do not do much for the overall flavour one way or
another.]

Cook the macaroni in plenty of water with a
little salt and olive oil added before the pasta.
Cook al dente if you like a bit of bite, cook it to
death if you like soft pasta. Drain well and add to
the cheese sauce.

Place in a greased oven dish, cover with grated
cheese (Parmesan if you like it) and grill
(not bake) until the cheese browns.

This is a helluva recipe to list quantities and exact
ingredients for, because some people like the sauce
thick and some thin, some like a little cheese, some
like a lot, some like mild cheese, some like sharp
cheese and some like blue cheese (almost any cheese
works) and some like a little sauce and a lot of
macaroni and some vice versa.

And you can use other sorts of pasta, too, including
the obvious penne, fettuccini, fusili, etc but also
gnocchi, ravioli, tortellini or tortelloni.

James - who is actually cooking Greek today, not
Italian, and has neck of lamb cooking VERY slowly
in olive oil, lemon juice and a little stock, with
potatoes, bay leaves, pepper, and herbes de Provence
(which MUST contain lavender - if it doesn't it's
not "Herbes de Provence", it's a travesty). After
five or six hours at barely 100C (212F) the lamb
is tender and full of the herb flavours - the dish
is called Kleftiko ("stolen lamb"). Rather than
retsina I shall drink a nice 2004 Shiraz Pinotage
from the Western Cape with it.