Macaroni cheese with a twist

First I wanted to call this dish an English macaroni cheese, but then I realised that I had used Herbes de Provence and crème fraîche, so it probably wouldn't have been appropriate. Then I planned to name it the European macaroni cheese (Italian, English, French components), but that didn't quite sound right. In the end I had to settle for the name Macaroni cheese with a twist. The twist are my English ingredient additions, dry cider and Cornish Cruncher cheese that made the macaroni bake very savoury and special tasting. Have a look how easy the making is.

Ingredients

1 shallot

1 tbsp olive oil

250 g macaroni

200 g Cornish Cruncher cheese

150 ml dry cider (Black Fox)

1 tsp Herbes de Provence

½ tsp ground black pepper

½ tsp sea salt

2 tbsp crème fraîche

50 g breadcrumbs (I used lemon and pepper breadcrumbs)

Method

Chop the shallot finely and cook in olive oil at moderate heat until soft. In the meanwhile also cook the macaroni in salt water. Leave them a bit more al dente than usual as they will keep cooking in the oven.

Grate the cheese. Add the herbs, black pepper and sea salt to the shallots and then pour the cider in. Add 2/3 of the cheese and the crème fraîche. Let cook for a few minutes more and then also mix the macaroni in.

Place the mix into ramekins or a large oven dish. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese and the breadcrumbs on the top and bake at 180C for about 15 minutes.

Serve with a salad and enjoy!

Your VegHog