WHAT YOU NEED

10oz Macaroni

A pan of boiling salty water (for cooking the Macaroni)

Quarter of a cup of olive oil

Half a tub of Cheddar style Spread (or the Creamy Sheese of your choice – they all work equally well)

Half a Strong Cheddar Sheese grated (or Mozzarella - any of the hard Sheese styles work - giving the dish their unique flavour - Smoked Cheddar is especially good)

Half a Medium Cheddar Sheese grated

4 cups of Soya milk (sweetened makes it more like a real cheese mac')

Fine sea salt and ground black pepper to season (lemon salt is wonderful too)

Garlic infused olive oil for drizzling

Some Greek Basil or your favourite herb to garnish before serving (marjoram, parsley, coriander, oregano - all work equally as well)

Other pasta shapes of pasta work just as well

as Macaroni in this dish - Cannelloni (tubes), Fusilloni

(spirals), Rigatoni (tubes).

1  Cook the macaroni in the boiling salted water for approx 8-10 minutes, or until al dente (still with a bite - a little firm). Drain and set aside in an oven proof dish.

2  The sauce. Add the quarter cup of olive oil to a pan and gently heat, as if you were making a roux. Gradually add the grated Strong Medium Cheddar – stirring constantly so that the Sheese melts into the olive oil. Then do the same with the Cheddar style spread. Then slowly add the soya milk. Keep whisking and ingredients into the olive oil.

3  Season the sauce to taste with some sea salt and black pepper. Pour the sauce over the cooked macaroni in the oven dish, mixing well so that all the macaroni is completely covered.

4  Decorate the top with the Medium Cheddar Sheese, then drizzle some olive all over and sprinkle with paprika powder (this helps to achieve that wonderful golden brown affect).

5  Bake in a preheated oven at 375ºF for about 15 minutes. Remove from the over and place under a grill (or broiler) until the top of the dish is golden brown. Decorate with the fresh herbs and serve with a mixed leaf and tomato salad.

Options

This is a very flexible recipe – and what quantities you use will depend upon your personal taste. If you want it really Sheesy then use a whole tub of Cheddar Style spread - or add a teaspoon of English mustard when you are making the sauce, or a teaspoon of marmite for a really strong cheesy bite.

Some gently fried onion added to the sauce is very nice. Traditionally the cheese used to make Macaroni cheese is quite sweet, so don’t be afraid of using sweetened soya milk. If you like the top really crispy then sprinkle some olive oil drizzled bread crumbs all over before grilling.

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