21st Century Macaroni Cheese

Recently I saw a post on Facebook that invited you to name something that you remember that someone younger than you probably wouldn't. Having gone through the obvious things such as Pogs, Tazos, Mini Boglins and Monster in My Pocket another one that crossed my mind was Macaroni Cheese. I thought of this one because a lot of my first memories of this world were of the dark and dusty house I lived in during the mid-eighties when Thatcher and Kinnock were always on the TV, the Pet Shop Boys owned our radio and every other meal seemed to be my mum's homemade Macaroni Cheese.

Since then I've not had this dish a lot and while I was living at home my mum graduated to more sophisticated dishes like risotto and various Avant Garde vegan recipes. However the memory that the Facebook post evoked made me, with a kitchen at my own place all to myself, decide to have a go at a Macaroni Cheese dish.

Choosing the soundtrack wasn't difficult and was inspired by my reading of Bruce Springsteen's autobiography, that someone who is very kind and wonderful had bought me as a Christmas Present, and so I put his flawless double album The River on the player. The album is chock full of powerful rockers that helped give some much needed energy for cooking on a dark January night.

My take on a Macaroni Cheese had the following ingredients:

12 ounces of cubed Butternut Squash.
12 ounces of Macaroni Pasta
Half a Red Onion thinly sliced.
Pine Nuts

For the sauce:

4 ounces of Margarine.
2 ounces of Plain Flour.
3 ounces dried Sage.
A pinch of Mustard.
Quarter of a pint of Milk.
3 ounces of grated Cheddar.

First I steamed the Butternut Squash for fifteen minutes until it was soft enough to push a fork through with ease. Second I boiled the Macaroni in a pan of water for ten minutes in accordance with the cooking instructions on the packet.

While the Squash steamed and the Macaroni boiled I greased a baking tin and spread the Red Onion pieces evenly with a little grated Cheddar throughout the bottom of the tin. When the Macaroni and the Butternut Squash pieces were cooked I did the same with them having first drained the Macaroni.

Next I prepared the sauce by melting the Margarine in a milk pan on the hob and stirring the flour into it thoroughly. Then I added the Mustard and dried Sage before mixing the milk into it all on a medium heat until the sauce thickened. Finally I melted the Cheddar into it and poured it evenly over the top of the Macaroni, Squash and Red Onion.

I then sprinkled Pine Nuts, a good food to ward off seasonal affective disorder so the professionals say, on top of the Macaroni Cheese and then cooked it on Gas Mark 4 for thirty minutes. When it came out of the oven the top of the Macaroni Cheese was crisp and the Pine Nuts toasted. However beneath that the sauce was soft and just right in its consistency as was the Macaroni, Squash and Onion. Certainly the taste in flavour and richness was light years away from the mid-eighties Macaroni of my early years.

A bit more colourful than your average Macaroni Cheese

The layers of the Macaroni; Onions on the bottom, Macaroni and Squash in the middle and Sauce and S.A.D busting Pine Nuts on the top.