Our day 8 Ilchester recipe is a Double Gloucester and Cheddar Mac and cheese. As an American, Double Gloucester cheese isn’t something I’m super familiar with, and that is a tragedy. This mac and cheese is packed with flavor and is easily customizable to any setting.
Every year, Aldi releases a cheese Advent calendar. The calendar contains one individually wrapped piece of cheese for each day. There are twelve different cheeses available so we have two opportunities to explore different recipes we can make to feature each cheese. This is one of those recipes. Follow along here.
How to use cheese in mac and cheese
When you take a bite of cheese, I want you to pay attention to when the cheesy flavor comes. Sometimes the flavor shows up immediately but fades before you’re finished eating it. These are what I call “opener” cheeses. Other cheeses take a few seconds for the flavor to develop, but it carries throughout the bite. These are what I call “closer” cheeses. Well-rounded mac and cheese recipes make use of both opener and closer cheeses so the cheesy flavor carries throughout the bite.
Double Gloucester Cheese
Double Gloucester cheese hails from Britain. It is sharp, orange, and a beautiful closer cheese.
Cheddar Cheese
Extra sharp cheddar cheese is one of my favorite cheeses to use in a mac and cheese. It’s packed with flavor but holds its own as an opener cheese.
Radiatore Pasta in Double Gloucester and Cheddar Mac and cheese
The type of pasta you use in your mac and cheese recipes is one of the most important decisions. If your pasta is too large, it will be cumbersome and difficult to eat. On the other hand, if your noodle is too small, you run the risk of your dish being a soupy mess. Small noodles also lose valuable texture benefits.
Radiatore pasta is on the smaller side of medium pastas, with plenty of ridges to hold onto sauce. It’s one of the best pasta shapes for mac and cheese.
Reheating Double Gloucester and Cheddar Mac and cheese
Mac and cheese is notoriously difficult to reheat. However, I’ve noticed that roux-based sauces like in this recipe reheat really well. A few minutes in the microwave and you’ll have perfectly creamy mac and cheese. In fact, if you let your ingredients mingle for a day or two in the fridge, you’ll have even better mac and cheese than the day you made it.
Add a fork
This Double Gloucester and Cheddar mac and cheese is creamy, flavorful, and would balance beautifully as a side, or with some great toppings as an entree.
Double Gloucester and Monterey Jack Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 16 oz pasta cooked according to package directions
- 3 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp flour
- 3 cups whole milk
- 4 oz Double Gloucester, grated
- 4 oz Extra Sharp Cheddar, grated
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pre heat your milk in the microwave for 45 seconds – just enough to take the chill out of it.
- Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat and let it heat until it becomes foamy.
- Mix in flour. Cook it for a minute while stirring constantly
- Slowly add warmed milk to the butter mixture 1/4 cup at a time. Whisk it continually until combined. Season generously with salt and fresh cracked pepper.
- Once all of the milk is added, cook for a few minutes while whisking it. Do not let it boil. You will feel the sauce start to thicken. It’s ready for cheese when you rub a small amount between your fingers and it feels silky.
- Remove from heat and stir in your cheese until it’s melted and mixed into the sauce.
- Once the cheese is incorporated, use a cooked noodle to taste your sauce. If it doesn’t taste cheesy enough try adding a little more salt to bring out the flavor.
- Combine the pasta and sauce and serve.
