Chef Antonio Romano won the Fine Dining Lovers Food for Thought Award for Italy and South East Europe Region.
Photo courtesy of Chef Antonio Romano
The Ultimate Mac 'n' Cheese by Antonio Romano
16 Nov 2020
Difficulty
Intermediate
Total Time
40MIN
Ingredients
Butter: 60 g
All purpose flour: 60 g
Buttermilk farmhouse: 75 g
Gorgonzola cheese D.O.P.: 150 g
Taleggio cheese D.O.P.: 150 g
Parmigiano Reggiano 36 months: 210 g
Hazelnut flour: to taste
Macaroni pasta: 500 g, or other short pasta
Salt
Fresh Italian black summer truffle: 50 g
Black pepper
Chives: 50 g
Piedmont hazelnut I.G.P.: 20 g
Antonio Romano shares his recipe for the ultimate comfort food dish: macaroni and cheese. He chose the popular dish, not only because of its history and global notoriety, but also because he feels it has lost some of its personality in recent years.
Romano wants to give some value back to the dish, taking care and pride in selecting quality ingredients, like the all-important Italian cheeses he's chosen to pump up the flavour. Overall, it's a departure from the all-too-familiar bland and commercialised mac 'n' cheese ready meal.
The chef asks us to stop and think for a second, and re-evaluate our relationship with readily available junk food. He encourages us to dedicate a moment or two to eating healthily: "30 seconds of your time to remember to make eco-sustainable choices."
Join Romano in making his ultimate mac 'n’ cheese, full of flavour and personality, in the recipe below.
01.
Preheat the oven to160°.
In a thermomix jug, drop the butter, the buttermilk and flour, and cook for 20 min at 90° on speed 2.
Chef tips: if you don’t have a thermomix, make a roux with butter and flour, add the buttermilk and the cheese, and cook until thick.
02.
Add salt and pepper.
Add in the thermomix the chopped taleggio, gorgonzola and parmigiano, and blitz for 15 sec on speed 8.
Sauce should be nice and thick.
03.
In the meantime, cook the pasta in boiling and salted water.
04.
The pasta must be al dente. Drizzle pasta with olive oil and stir to coat it. Set aside to cool.
05.
Combine the cheese sauce and pasta.
06.
Add chopped chives to the mix, and 40 gr of the truffle, chopped, into brunoise butter and flour.
07.
Fill the mould with some cheese sauce and hazelnut flour and bake in the pre-heated oven for 10 min.
Take out of the oven, put the hazelnuts on top and the extra grated parmigiano, and cook for 10 more minutes.
08.
Grate the rest of the truffle on top.
09.
The ultimate mac 'n' cheese is ready to be served.
