DAIRY FREE MAC AND CHEESE RECIPE RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. Peel and finely slice the garlic.
  2. Get a large pan of salted water on the boil. Melt the butter in a large ovenproof saucepan over a low heat, then add the flour and turn the heat up to medium, stirring all the time, until you get a paste – this is your roux.
  3. Add all the sliced garlic – don’t worry about the amount because each slice will caramelise like toffee in the roux. Keep cooking and stirring until golden and the garlic is nice and sticky.
  4. Add the bay leaves and slowly whisk in the milk a little at a time to ensure you get a nice smooth sauce. Bring the mixture to the boil, then leave it on a low heat to simmer and tick away, stirring occasionally.
  5. Preheat your oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7.
  6. Add the pasta to the pan of boiling salted water and cook according to the packet instructions. Meanwhile, roughly chop the tomatoes on a board and season them well with sea salt and black pepper. Grate the Cheddar and Parmesan.
  7. Drain the pasta and add it immediately to the sauce. Give it a good stir and take the pan off the heat. Stir in your grated cheeses, chopped tomatoes and pick in half of the thyme leaves. A little Worcestershire sauce added now is nice, and so is a little grating or two of nutmeg. Now work on the flavour – taste it and season it until it’s hitting the right spot. You want it to be slightly too wet because it will thicken up again in the oven, so add a splash of water if needed.
  8. If you’ve made your sauce in an ovenproof casserole-type pan, leave everything in there; if not, transfer it to a deep earthenware dish. Bake it for 30 minutes in the oven, until golden, bubbling, crispy and delicious.
  9. While it’s cooking, put your breadcrumbs and the rest of the the thyme leaves into a pan with a few drizzles of olive oil over a medium heat. Stir and toss the crumbs around until crunchy and golden all over. Remove from the heat and tip into a nice bowl.
  10. Serve your macaroni cheese in the centre of the table, with your bowl of crispy breadcrumbs for sprinkling over, and a lovely green salad.

Steps:

• Take the lobster and twist the claws off, then use a rolling pin to crack the claws and pick the meat out. Peel the tail, exposing and removing the fleshy meat. Roughly chop all of the meat, then cover and set aside in a bowl in the fridge. Bash all the pieces of shell with the rolling pin to break them up a bit.
• Heat the oil in large frying pan over a high heat, add the onion and a large pinch of salt and cook for around five minutes until softened and well coloured, then add the lobster shell and fry for a couple of minutes more. Add the cayenne pepper and tomato purée and stir to coat everything, the turn the heat down to medium and add the milk. Stir well, then remove from the heat when it is just coming to a simmer and set aside for 30 mins to infuse. Meanwhile, mix the garlic, olive oil and lemon zest together with some seasoning to make the breadcrumb topping, then set aside. Strain the milk mixture into a jug and discard the shell.
• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Boil the macaroni in salted water until it has a slight bite (around two minutes less than on the packet instructions), drain and set aside. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat until foaming, then add the wine and cook for 5 minutes until the wine has reduced by half, then whisk in the flour to make a sandy paste. Turn down the heat and pour the strained milk into the pan a little at a time, whisking constantly and allowing each addition of milk to be fully absorbed before adding any more.
• Add the chopped lobster meat, mustard, crab and cheese. Stir well until the cheese has melted, then season to taste. Tip in the macaroni and stir to coat everything in the sauce. Tip into an ovenproof baking dish (or six small ones) and top with a sprinkling of grated cheese and the garlic breadcrumbs. Bake for 20 mins until golden and bubbling, then allow to cool a little before serving.