Feeling Crumby, In A Good Way

Blue Cheese Mac 'n' Cheese with Tajín Crumb...

Hello, I’m back with more cheesy dinners for Cheese Month. This week’s recipe is a Blue Cheese Mac ‘n’ Cheese that’s lifted by an optional Tajín Crumb and the acidity of tomatoes. Upcoming ‘Blue Monday’ doesn’t really exist, except as a New Order song. I have not made a blue cheese recipe for this fake occasion. And as I offer you up this week’s cheesy dinner, I ask you please: don’t succumb to the marketing of January. Veganuary, Dry January, Regenaury, Tryanuary. If they try to rename my birthday month one more time I will scream…

January is a great month full of peace and quiet. This recipe is just the thing for it, and came about because we had a lot of blue cheese after Christmas. Maybe you’re in the same boat. I love tomatoes in macaroni cheese because they offer sweetness and texture in what is otherwise a very rich dish. That’s also why I love the Tajín breadcrumbs here, their crunch and brightness lifts the saline blue cheese sauce. You can buy Tajín from Mexican Mama or Sous Chef, among other places, but if you can’t find it just use some chilli powder, salt and lime zest in its place.

My first test of this recipe ended up firmer set than I like a macaroni cheese, and so I reduced the oven time, meaning the sauce dries out less and remains really creamy. The other bonus is that this can be ready on your table in just over half an hour.

The chillies on top are optional but chillies and melted cheese just go together, something I was reminded of again when I had both jollof and cauliflower cheese on my Christmas plate. A revelatory combination. Hope you enjoy this recipe, more cheese action soon…

Blue Cheese Mac ‘n’ Cheese with Tajín Crumb

4 tomatoes, quartered
2 sprigs of thyme
400g macaroni
70g butter
170g Stilton or other hard blue cheese, grated
140g Cheddar, grated
40g Wensleydale or Gouda (or just more Cheddar), rind removed, grated
700ml milk
2 tbsp flour
½ tsp grated nutmeg
Your favourite hot sauce
½ tsp mustard powder
1 sliced chilli and/or some pickled jalapenos for garnish (optional)

For the Tajín crumbs
2 tbsp olive oil
150g breadcrumbs
1 and a ½ tsp Tajín
2 sprigs of thyme or rosemary (or a combination)

1. Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed pot, then add the flour and stir until it looks lacy. Cook on a medium heat for about a minute and half, until the raw flour cooks out. Next gradually add the milk in about four/five goes, whisking between each addition until you have a sauce about the thickness of cream. (It may look rather thin, but it’ll thicken up a lot when you add all the cheese.)

2. Season with a good pinch of salt and plenty of pepper, the nutmeg, and the mustard powder. Stir in all the cheese, whisking until it’s completely melted. Finish with four to five dashes of hot sauce (something light and vinegary is nice like Tapatio, Frank’s, Tabasco, Cholua etc).

3. Turn your oven on to 220°c. Cook the macaroni for 10 mins (or three quarters of the time on the packet instructions) in salted boiling water.

4. Season your tomatoes with salt and pepper and the leaves from two sprigs of thyme, then add them to the cheese sauce pot and stir well, cooking for one minute. Set aside.

5. Now add the cooked pasta to the cheese sauce. It will look really saucy and you might think it's too much sauce to pasta, but rest assured when it’s had its oven time the texture will be great. Top with the slices of chilli then bake in the oven for 12-13 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, add the olive oil to a small frying pan for the breadcrumbs and, when hot, add the crumbs and the thyme leaves or chopped rosemary leaves. Stir until very well toasted and golden brown and fully crunchy. Season with the Tajín and black pepper and set aside.

7. Remove the mac ‘n’ cheese from the oven and scatter with the seasoned breadcrumbs, then serve. This is nice with lots of boiled broccoli or salad.

RIP Cotherstone

While we’re on the matter of cheese, I need to take a moment for Cotherstone. I’ve written before about my favourite cheeses, and this one – a British Territorial cheese from County Durham – is my number one. I love it because it’s milky yet lemony, refreshing yet rich, crumbly yet moist, and the perfect semi-hard texture. It’s the most comforting of cheeses. Kind of like if Babybel were not mass-produced and was made from interesting milk with long, lingering flavours. It’s related to Wensleydale, but bouncier and more magnificent, and there has been only one cheesemaker left making it for a very long time.

The devastating news is that that cheesemaker, Joan Cross, is finally hanging up her boots for good, and the cheese will very soon be no more. I wish I could stash a tonne and keep it forever. I can’t recommend enough that you try it before it’s gone. You can get a piece from Neal’s Yard Dairy. God bless you Joan Cross, the country will be a worse place without Cotherstone in it.