James' Macaroni Cheese

This is my version of Macaroni Cheese. I don't use macaroni if I can help it because it becomes too dense.

Ingredients

• 350g dried pasta shapes (spirelli, fusilli etc.)
• 1 large onion
• 4 rashers of bacon
• 50g butter
• 50g plain flour
• 750ml semi-skimmed milk
• 1 stock cube
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 150g mature Cheddar cheese
• 30g Parmesan cheese
• Handful of breadcrumbs

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200℃ / gas mark 6.
2. Cook the pasta in a large pan of well salted water until slightly undercooked.
3. Finely chop the onion and bacon and gently fry until coloured then set aside, meanwhile grate the cheese.
4. Melt the butter in a large sauce pan and add the flour then cook for a minute or two.
5. Slowly add the milk to the roux. When it is all added crumble the stock cube into the sauce and bring to a simmer for a minute.
6. Add the onion and bacon mixture, cheddar cheese and the mustard to the sauce, then season with salt and pepper.
7. Mix the pasta into the sauce and check the seasoning.
8. Pour the pasta and sauce into a baking dish and top with the parmesan and breadcrumbs. Bake for 20 minutes.