Health

Paula McIntyre jazzes up a mac and cheese with meaty goodness

Mac and cheese used to be quite a boring affair — pasta bound in a thick cheese sauce and baked. Nowadays it’s been pimped beyond recognition with all manner of vegetables, duck confit, braised meats and even fish being added. Frankly, it’s a trend I can really buy into. In the recipe here I’ve added slow cooked beef short rib to the mix.

Slow cooked short rib mac and cheese Mac and cheese used to be quite a boring affair — pasta bound in a thick cheese sauce and baked. Nowadays it’s been pimped beyond recognition with all manner of vegetables, duck confit, braised meats and even fish being added. Frankly, it’s a trend I can really buy into.

In the recipe here I’ve added slow cooked beef short rib to the mix. This cut also known as Jacob’s ladder is meaty, on the bone and ideal for slow cooking. When you’ve shredded the meat for the mac and cheese and used some of the cooking liquor for the sauce, you’ll still have some cooking liquor left.

Strain it and put into containers and freeze. The next time you’re making a pepper sauce for steak or need some good stock for gravy or soup you’ll have this delicious, rich, winey elixir on hand to add a little magic..