Incredibly Delicious Gouda Mac and Cheese
A crazy delicious baked Gouda mac and cheese that will have your family or guests WOWED. A simple creamy cheese sauce made with a mix of aged Gouda cheese and cheddar. The topping is an extra special blend of panko crumbs with herbs, parmesan cheese and lemon zest.
Servings: 4 - 6 people
Ingredients
- 280 grams pasta macaroni or any shape you like
- 1 tbsp butter
For the topping:
- 1.5 cups panko breadcrumbs
- 60 grams butter melted
- 20 grams about ½ cup very finely grated parmesan
- Zest of a lemon
- 1 heaped tablespoon rosemary roughly chopped
For the sauce:
- 70 grams butter
- 50 grams flour
- 300 grams cheese I used 175 grams aged gouda and 125 grams cheddar
- 3 cups milk
- 1.5 teaspoons black pepper
- 2 tablespoons rosemary leaves roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350f (180c).
- Make the topping first. Mix all topping ingredients together, add a good pinch of salt and set aside.
- Cook the pasta, undercooking by 1 minute from package instructions. Drain and toss with 1 tablespoon of butter (helps it stop cooking and sticking).
- Make the sauce. In a large saucepan heat the butter over a medium heat and when sizzling, add the flour.
- Whisk vigorously for a minute.
- Lower the heat slightly and add the milk in a slow stream, whisking the whole time making sure you get all the flour mixture from the bottom and sides of the pan.
- Cook for a few minutes until it thickens slightly and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
- When ready it should almost be at a slight simmer but not quite.
- Lower the heat right down and add the cheese in three lots, whisking well and letting it melt in between each addition.
- If there are still some small chunks not melted in, it's fine!
- Add the rosemary, black pepper and lemon juice and mix in.
- Add the pasta, mix and season to taste with salt.
- Pour into your baking dish (I used a 30cm x 21cm rectangular dish) and top with the panko crumb mixture.
- Bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes until nice and golden. You don't want to bake it any longer than that as you don't want to overcook the pasta and dry out the sauce
- Leave it to sit for 5 - 10 mins before serving.
Video
Notes
Portion size - this is a very generous 4 person serving for a main or 6 for a side.
Cheese - Read the notes above on cheese options. It just needs to be 300 grams so mix up Gouda, cheddar, parmesan, mozzarella - anything you like!
Baking dish - I used a 30cm x 21cm rectangle porcelain dish. Use anything similar in size, a round dish works great too.