Mac 'n' Cauliflower 'n' Cheese

We've decided to treat ourselves tonight with a yummy Mac 'n' Cheese. This takes a fair bit longer to make than my usual week night recipes but it's worth it! And it really only takes about 1 hour 10 minutes, with only 30 minutes of actual work. You could make the cooking time faster by putting it under the grill rather than baking in the oven, but I think it's so much tastier this way. Please give this a try and whatever you do, do not leave out the raw onion - it provides another level of taste and texture. Let me know if you like it!

Mac 'n' Cauliflower 'n' Cheese
25g butter
25g plain flour
1 pint milk
300g macaroni
1 cauliflower
1 onion
200g cheddar cheese, plus extra for topping
1 slice stale bread

1. Put a large pan of salted water on to boil, and cook the macaroni together with the cauliflower for 10 minutes (make sure you don't overcook - you want them to be a bit al dente when you put the mac 'n' cheese in the oven).
2. Pre-heat your oven to about 160C.
3. Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour using a whisk. Stir and heat for about a minute, then turn the heat off and gradually add the milk, whisking all the time. If you use a whisk, you'll find it doesn't get lumpy.
4. When all of the milk has been added, turn the heat back on low and heat through, whisking all of the time, until the sauce thickens to your liking then turn the heat back off.
5. Stir the chopped, raw onion and grated cheddar cheese into the sauce and season with salt and plenty of black pepper.
6. Transfer the cauliflower, macaroni and sauce to an oven proof dish and combine. Top with additional grated cheese (I find that gruyere is very good as a topping) and bread crumbs (rub the stale bread between your palms to create the bread crumbs).
7. Pop in the oven for about 40 mins, or until the topping is brown, crispy and bubbling and you can't resist tucking in!