Macaroni Cheese

This is comfort food.

Ingredients

1 mug short cut macaroni
2 oz butter
2 oz flour
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 pint milk
1/2 lb cheddar cheese, grated

(optional)
a handful of lardons, fried, then drained of fat on kitchen roll
1 onion, fried in butter, drained on kitchen roll

Method

Bring a pan of water with a little salt and little oil to the boil, then add the macaroni and boil for 10 minutes (or till al dente).

Drain and place in a casserole dish.

For the sauce:

Melt the butter in a heavy based pan, then stir in the mustard and flour.
Keep stirring until all the flour is taken up by the melted butter.

Take pan off the heat and add a pint of milk, by adding a little at a time and stirring all the time so that it does not go 'lumpy' Do this slowly and carefully until the mixture is liquid, then you can add the rest of the milk more quickly. To rescue "lumps", remove pan from the heat and whisk thoroughly.

Bring to the boil slowly stirring all the time until the sauce thickens.

Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese until it has melted.

Add to the macaroni in the casserole dish.

If you like, you can then add the extra ingredients and stir them in with a fork.

Sprinkle some more grated Cheddar over the top (or alternatively a mixture of grated cheddar and breadcrumbs for a crispier top.)

Place in the oven at 180Celcius or until mixture is bubbling and cheese topping is browning.

I should have said that this probably serves 2 hungry young people, but it does 4 meals for me!