Ginger's Home Cooking: Cheeseburger Macaroni Bake

Ingredients:

245g (just over 8.5 oz.) Beef mince (ground beef)

¼ of a small onion (diced)

1 clove of garlic (diced)

a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce

200g (7 oz.) of macaroni

3 Tbsp. of diced pimentos

150g (just over 5 oz.) of full fat cream cheese

1 Tbsp. of French’s yellow mustard

90g (just over 3 oz.) of grated cheddar + an additional handful or 2

300ml (just over 10 oz.) of milk

dash of cracked black pepper

18 Ritz crackers (blitzed or crushed)

a medium-sized casserole dish

I needed to use up some pimentos from a large jar I’d opened to make Yellow Jack Chicken & wanted to do something involving pasta & cheese. My 7 year old son & I discussed what we’d like for dinner & came up with this recipe together. The whole idea is that it’s like a deconstructed cheeseburger in a casserole, with the pimentos evoking both pickles & grilled peppers & the cracker crumbs representing the bun. You’ve got the onions, the meat, the mustard – the whole works & pasta to boot! I think it’s pretty good, so please enjoy.

Method:

In a non-stick pan, soften the onions & garlic & add the mince (ground beef). Add a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce & cook until brown. While this is going on, you can be boiling the macaroni. Boil until al dente, then drain & set aside. To make the ‘instant’ cheese sauce, melt the cream cheese & milk in a small pot. When the cream cheese is melted in & it has formed a thick liquid, add the mustard, black pepper & grated cheddar & stir until smooth & blended. Taste a little of the sauce on your finger & see whether you think it needs a dash of salt. I find this sauce to be more than flavourful, but my husband always feels the dish needs a little salt when I use this sauce. Everyone’s tastebuds are different & I’m not a fan of salt, so you may feel differently. (You may notice from my blog that this is the same cheese sauce I use when making a vegetable bake. It’s quicker than a traditional cheese sauce with a roux base, which I also use frequently, & simply works better with certain things. You may also notice that I tend to use yellow American hotdog mustard in my cheese or cream-based sauces. It’s something I discovered many years ago when playing around with flavours. A little goes a long way toward making something zippy & more flavourful & I find it preferable to using tons of salt.) In a casserole dish, combine the cooked mince & onion mixture with the macaroni & the pimentos, then stir around until well mixed. Pour over the cheese sauce & stir a little until well-covered. Sprinkle a handful or 2 of grated cheddar over the top. Next, crush the Ritz crackers with a mortar & pestle or in a food processor & sprinkle over the top. Bake at 200 Celsius (390 F) for about 35 minutes until bubbly & golden brown.