Ingredients
50 g butter
1 leek
1 large clove garlic
50g plain flour
750 ml milk
175g strong cheddar cheese
0.5 tbs dijon mustard
200g dry pasta (you want a tube shaped pasta)
75g strong cheddar cheese
4 tbs dry breadcrumbs
2 tbs white sesame seeds
2 tbs sunflower seeds
Method
- Set the oven to 200°C
- Set a large pan of slightly salted water on the hob and bring to the boil. Whilst it is coming to the boil prepare the sauce.
- Clean and slice the leek.
- Finely chop the garlic.
- Melt the butter in the pan and add the leeks. Cook on a gentle heat for about 7 minutes until the leek is beginning to soften.
- Add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes.
- Stir in the flour and cook out for about one minute.
- Add the milk a little at a time, stirring to incorporate into the butter, leek, flour mix. Bring up to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Grate the cheese
- Stir the grated cheese and the mustard into the leek sauce
- Check the seasoning and add salt if necessary.
- Add the pasta to the pan of boiling water and cook until just al dente.
- Drain the pasta and stir into the sauce. Tip into an ovenproof dish.
- Grate the cheddar and mix with dry breadcrumbs and the seeds.
- Sprinkle over the cheesy pasta and place on a baking tray and in the pre-heated oven.
- Bake for about 20 minutes until the top is gold and the dish is bubbling hot.
Notes
To make a proper béchamel/white sauce, you should heat the milk up first – preferably with a studded onion. That is a peeled onion that has a couple of bay leaves pinned with a couple of cloves. However, I always skip this step.
You want a slightly thiner than usual béchamel, that just coats the back of a spoon. Adding the cheese will thicken the sauce up further.
Traditionally English is used to make a cheese sauce, but I prefer dijon.
I tend to use rigatoni, but penne or macaroni are just as good.
Al dente means ‘to the tooth’ and signifies that the pasta should retain a bite. Be careful not to over cook the pasta it will cook further in the sauce.
You can, if you are in a hurry, leave this stage out and just serve from the pan. However, the crunchy topping is definitely worth it.
I regularly make dry breadcrumbs. Simply blitz some bread in a food processor and lay out on a tray. Place in a low oven – around 100°C. Stir from time to time to ensure all the crumbs are fully dried. Make sure that you do not burn. Allow to cool and then blitz again in the food processor. These will keep for many months in an airtight container.