French
Gratin de Macaronis (Baked Macaroni and Cheese Gratin)
Gratin de Macaronis (Baked Macaroni and Cheese Gratin) is French home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 12 oz macaroni or other short pasta
- 3 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2.5 cups milk
- 1.5 cups gruyere cheese, grated
- 3 tbsp dry breadcrumbs
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
How to cook it
- Preheat the oven to 400 F and cook the macaroni in salted boiling water until just shy of al dente, then drain well.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan, whisk in the flour, and cook for 1 minute, then gradually whisk in the milk and simmer, stirring, until thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Season the sauce with the nutmeg, salt, and pepper, then stir in most of the gruyere until melted, holding back a handful for the top.
- Toss the drained macaroni with the cheese sauce and pour it into a buttered baking dish.
- Scatter the breadcrumbs and the remaining gruyere over the top and bake for 20 minutes, until bubbling and golden.
- Let the gratin rest for 5 minutes before serving; this is the everyday French children's comfort lunch, needing no meat at all.
Serve it with
A French dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Gratin de Macaronis (Baked Macaroni and Cheese Gratin), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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The cooked vegetable
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Something cool and fresh
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Gratin de Macaronis (Baked Macaroni and Cheese Gratin) carries dairy and gluten. It is free of the remaining 8 allergens on that list.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | Yes | Blanc de Poulet Grille et Haricots Verts (Grilled Chicken Breast with Green Beans) |
| Gluten | Yes | Blanc de Poulet Grille et Haricots Verts (Grilled Chicken Breast with Green Beans) |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Hearty
- Protein
- Medium
- Protein quality
- Complete
- Food groups it covers
- Grains and Dairy
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Gratin de Macaronis (Baked Macaroni and Cheese Gratin) takes about 35 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
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More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on pasta, milk, and cheese.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from France.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.