You might remember back in the summer of 2015 that my reports of Glasto fabulousness, mainly involved food. I couldn’t help it, those food trucks were damn tasty. And one of my favourites was Anna Mae’s Mac N Cheese van.
The Mac N Cheese was divine with a luxuriously thick cheese sauce, plenty of flavour, and original topping combos. And the names were great – The Kanye Western, anybody? Add the fact that it was being served from a cool AF retro van with neon lights, and what’s not to love?
In fact, it was so delicious that when I headed to Bestival a few months later, I went straight to Anna Mae’s for a hit of that sweet M&C. Delicious.
So imagine my delight when I unwrapped one of my Christmas gifts this year to find an Anna Mae’s Mac N Cheese
So I thought I would try out a recipe or two to share with you guys. Let’s see if it’s as good as the real thing, yeah?
GLASTONBRIE
The first recipe I decided to try was obviously the ‘Glastonbrie’ Mac. The name alone brought on waves of nostalgia, but add to that the fact that you chuck a whole wedge of brie into the sauce… Yeah go on then. On top of the brie, this Mac included a crispy onion and breadcrumb topping with a couple of sprigs of rosemary. Sounds good right?
So how did it go? Well the recipe was pretty foolproof and was easy to follow. I’ve tried to make cheese sauce, either for Mac N Cheese or Cauliflower Cheese, but I’ve never been very good at it. But this recipe was awesome! My cheese sauce was thick and creamy and full of brie, bloody perfect.
It tasted real good but didn’t quite compare to the likes of Glasto mac from Anna Mae’s. But I decided it was the recipe I chose. I needed to try a more exciting recipe, one that I would actually choose from the food truck. Glastonbrie was all for the name, let’s face it.
Here’s the Glastonbrie recipe:
Starter Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 600ml Whole Milk
- 50g Unsalted Butter
- 50g Plain Flour
- A pinch of Salt
Method
- Heat the milk in a heavy-bottomed pan until hot, but not boiling.
- At the same time, melt the butter in another heavy-bottomed pan, reduce the heat and gradually stir in the flour. This makes a paste called a roux.
- Stir the roux over the heat for 3-4 minutes until golden.
- Add the hot milk to the roux a little at a time, stirring until fully combined.
- Turn up the heat and cook for a further 5-8 minutes, stirring so that it does not stick to the pan.
- Season with salt.
Glastonbrie Recipe
Ingredients
- 400g Macaroni
- 1 tablespoon Unsalted Butter
- 70g Japanese Panko Breadcrumbs
- 60g Crispy Onions
- 1 portion of Starter Sauce
- 150g grated Mild Cheddar
- 150g Somerset Brie (rind removed and cubed)
- A few sprigs of Rosemary
Method
- Cook the Macaroni according to the packet instructions until al dente. Drain in a colander and put to one side.
- Melt the butter in a frying pan and toss in the panic breadcrumbs to coat. Lower the heat and toast breadcrumbs until golden. Remove from the heat.
- Crush the crispy onions into the breadcrumbs. Put to one side.
- Make the Starter Sauce, then reduce the heat to low. All all of the cheese and stir until melted completely. Stir in the cooked Macaroni.
- Plate up and cover with the breadcrumb mixture and a few sprigs of rosemary.
FIGHT CLUB
The second recipe I decided to try was a bit more sexy. Fight club has sausage meatballs, crunchy tender stem broccoli, double gloucester, fontina, taleggio and parmesan cheese. And a sprinkle of chilli flakes on top. That’s a lot of cheese, right? The only thing is a couple of these cheeses were hard to find in the supermarket. So after a quick Google search, I subbed fontina for gruyere cheese, and taleggio for gouda slices.
The recipe was just as easy to follow, although I’m a bit squeamish when it comes to removing the skin from sausages and rolling the meat into balls. But the taste of the meatballs was bloody gorgeous and went lovely with the mac. I’m also glad there was veg in this one. I feel like if your Mac N Cheese has vegetables in it, it doesn’t matter that you put a giant bowl full of cheese into it.
The cheese sauce was just as good as last time, proving that this sauce recipe is totally the one. I’m definitely going to follow it for every cheese sauce I ever make. My cauliflower cheese is going to blow people’s minds the next time I make a roast, for sure.
Here’s the Fight Club recipe:
** Follow Starter Sauce recipe above!
Fight Club Recipe
Ingredients
- 300g Salsiccia (4 sausages, skin removed)
- 400g Macaroni
- 8 spears of Tenderstem Broccoli (cut into 3cm pieces)
- 1 portion of Starter Sauce
- 230g Double Gloucester (grated)
- 90g Fontina (grated)
- 30g Parmesan (grated)
- 140g Taleggio (rind removed and sliced)
- 1 teaspoon of Dried Chilli Flakes
Method
- Preheat the Grill to 200°c/180°c (fan)/gas 6.
- Roll the Sausage Meat into balls approx 3cm wide and fry in a pan over medium heat for 8 minutes or until fully cooked. Put to one side.
- Cook the Macaroni according to the packet instructions until al dente. Drain in a colander and put to one side.
- Blanch the Broccoli for 1 minute, drain and pat dry. Put to one side.
- Make the Starter Sauce, then reduce the heat to low. All all of the cheese and stir until melted completely. Stir in the cooked Macaroni, the Sausage Meat and the Broccoli.
- Transfer to an ovenproof dish and top with the slices of Taleggio. Grill for 10 minutes until melted. Sprinkle with Chilli Flakes and serve.
Overall I think I preferred Fight Club to Glastonbrie, it had a lot more going on. Although next time I think I’ll make the Fight Club recipe and add the crispy breadcrumb and onion topping from Glastonbrie to it. Because you can’t have too many toppings, right?
There are a tonne more recipes in Anna Mae’s Mac N Cheese cookbook and I can’t wait to try more! If you’re a cheese-lover like me, you definitely need to give it a go, it’s amazing. If you want to get your hands on this beaut, check out the link below.
Have you tried Anna Mae’s Mac N Cheese? Did it rock your world as much as it rocked mine?! Let me know in the comments below or tweet me @HeelsInBackpack!