Cheesy Pasta Bake

Ingredients

• 300-400 g Pasta (Fusilli recommended)
• 50 g Butter
• 100 g Flour
• 200 ml Milk
• 400 g Cheddar Cheese
• 6 rashers Bacon

Method

Cook the pasta to just short of al dente — it will finish in the oven, so aim for a bite of resistance that catches your teeth. Drain and set aside.

Make a béchamel by melting the butter over medium heat, then whisk in the flour to form a roux. Cook this paste for two minutes, stirring constantly — this removes the raw flour taste, which will otherwise persist through the sauce and flatten everything. Whisk in the milk gradually, working out lumps as you go. The emulsion comes together faster if you warm the milk first, but cold milk works if you're patient. Keep the heat at medium and stir without stopping until the sauce coats the back of a spoon and no flour taste remains when you taste a teaspoon — roughly five to eight minutes. The starch has hydrated and thickened the sauce when the floury rawness vanishes.

Grate the cheddar and stir 80 per cent of it into the hot sauce off the heat. The residual warmth melts the cheese without breaking the emulsion or overcooking the sauce. Fry the bacon until the fat renders and the edges crisp — don't discard the fat, as it carries the pork flavour that rounds out the whole dish. Chop it into 2 cm pieces. Combine the pasta, sauce, and bacon (with all rendered fat) in a baking dish and toss until coated. Scatter the remaining cheese over the top.

Bake at 200°C for 25–30 minutes. The gratin is ready when the top colours golden and the edges bubble at the rim — you should see a thin ring of fond forming where sauce meets ceramic. If the top hasn't coloured after 25 minutes, finish under a hot grill for three to four minutes to build comfort-food crust without overcooking the interior. The cheese should be melted and just beginning to brown, not burnt to a crisp.