A pasta and ham gratin is only as good as the moment you scatter the cheese on top. We do not add it at the start of baking. We wait until ten minutes before the end. That is the point where most family gratins go wrong.
We make this gratin with 400 g of pasta, 200 g of diced bacon and a creamy cheese sauce built from 400 g of vegetable stock and 200 g of double cream. The 300 g of Gouda is split: half goes into the sauce, half forms the crust on top. The Thermomix® handles the grating, the chopping of onion and garlic, and the complete bechamel in a single mixing bowl, with no pan changes and no need to stand at the hob stirring a roux.
What makes this recipe a family staple is that it is built from things we almost always have in the kitchen. Pasta, double cream, diced bacon, Gouda, one onion, one garlic clove and flour. The 45 minutes of total time splits into 15 minutes at the mixing bowl and 30 minutes in the oven, and during that half hour of baking we clear up the kitchen or set the table.
Pasta and Ham Gratin with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 11 ✓
- 300 g Gouda
- 1 onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 60 g butter
- 50 g plain flour (type 405)
- 400 g vegetable stock
- 200 g double cream
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 400 g pasta
- 200 g diced bacon
Instructions 0 / 8
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1
Preheat the oven.
Preheat the oven to 180°C top and bottom heat.
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2
Chop the Gouda.
Cut Gouda into pieces, place in the mixing bowl, chop for 8 seconds / speed 8 and set aside.
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3
Chop the onion and garlic.
Peel and halve the onion, peel the garlic clove. Place both in the mixing bowl, chop for 3 seconds / speed 8 and scrape down with the spatula.
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4
Sweat the roux.
Add the butter and flour and sweat for 3 minutes / Varoma / speed 2.
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5
Cook the sauce.
Add the vegetable stock, double cream, salt, pepper and 150 g Gouda and cook for 6 minutes / 100°C / speed 3.
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6
Layer the pasta and bacon.
Meanwhile, spread the pasta and diced bacon evenly in a baking dish.
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7
Pour the sauce over the pasta.
Blend the sauce for 10 seconds / speed 8 and pour over the pasta.
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8
Bake the gratin.
Scatter the remaining cheese on top and bake on the middle rack for 30 minutes.
Tip: You can prepare your pasta and ham gratin a few hours ahead and simply slide it into the oven when you are ready to eat.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Why the cheese goes on at the end
In the original recipe we scatter the remaining cheese over the gratin before baking and put it in the oven for 30 minutes at 180°C. That works. We have since tested a version with higher heat because we wanted a deeper golden crust. At 200°C with 25 minutes total baking time, the Gouda tips from golden to dark and bitter after 12 to 15 minutes if it sits on top from the beginning.
Our solution is straightforward. We bake the gratin for the first 15 to 20 minutes without any cheese on top, with just the cream sauce over the pasta and diced bacon. This lets the sauce soak into the pasta and the bacon pieces turn crisp. Only then do we open the oven, scatter the remaining 150 g of Gouda over and bake for another 10 minutes. The cheese melts, pulls into strings and gets a light golden crust without burning. If you stick with the original recipe at 180°C, you can scatter the cheese on at the start, as the heat is not high enough to cause burning.
Cook the pasta al dente, not soft
The 400 g of pasta goes into the baking dish already cooked. This is the second point where many gratins fail. If we cook the pasta as soft as we would normally serve it with a tomato sauce, it turns mushy in the oven. The hot cream sauce and 30 minutes at 180°C continue to cook the pasta.
We cook the pasta two minutes less than the packet says. For penne with an 11-minute cooking time that means 9 minutes; for rigatoni with 12 minutes, 10 minutes. It should still have a slight bite at the centre, almost a touch too firm. In the oven it will be just right.
The bechamel in the mixing bowl, start to finish
The sauce is the centrepiece and it is made directly in the same mixing bowl straight after grating the cheese. Onion and garlic are chopped for 3 seconds at speed 8, then 60 g of butter and 50 g of flour go in. We sweat this roux for 3 minutes at Varoma on speed 2. That is the step that separates a real bechamel from a floury sauce. The flour must sweat until it smells faintly nutty, otherwise the sauce will taste of raw flour later on.
We then add 400 g of vegetable stock and 200 g of double cream, followed by salt, pepper and 150 g of the grated Gouda, and cook for 6 minutes at 100°C on speed 3. The sauce turns silky, the cheese incorporates and the flour binds. Finally we blend for 10 seconds at speed 8 so that the onion and garlic completely disappear and the sauce is smooth. That is the advantage of the Thermomix® over a pot and whisk: no lumps, no onion pieces and no separate stage where we have to whisk up the roux on its own.
Diced bacon or diced ham
We use 200 g of diced bacon and add it raw, without browning it first. In the 25 to 30 minutes in the oven it releases enough fat and turns crisp. If you prefer a milder flavour, use diced cooked ham instead. It does not crisp up as much, but it is less salty and suits children better.
What we would not recommend is a mix of raw streaky bacon and cubed salami off-cuts. It sounds like good use of leftovers, but the flavour becomes dominated by the salami and overwhelms the cream sauce. If you want a mix, a combination of diced bacon and diced cooked ham in equal parts works much better.
Which pasta works best
We use penne or rigatoni because the short tubes absorb the sauce and come out of the dish filled with cheese when you serve them. Spirelli work too but hold less sauce. Spaghetti or tagliatelle are not suitable because they clump together when layered and cook unevenly.
With wholemeal pasta we cook only one minute less than the packet says, as it already takes a little longer. Gluten-free pasta made from maize or rice handles the extra cooking in the oven less well. If you need gluten-free, cook the pasta for just 7 minutes and reduce the baking time to 20 minutes, otherwise it will fall apart.
Sauce too thin, gratin watery
If the finished sauce looks too thin straight from the mixing bowl, the flour was not sweated hot enough or the 6 minutes at 100°C were cut short. We simply add another 2 minutes at 100°C on speed 3. The sauce must visibly thicken and look like a smooth bechamel, not warm milk.
A watery gratin at the end is usually caused by pasta that was not properly drained before layering. We leave it in the colander for 2 to 3 minutes after cooking before it goes into the baking dish. The residual water in the pasta will otherwise dilute the sauce in the oven and make the whole thing soupy.
Prepare it ahead for a weeknight dinner
We can prepare the gratin all the way up to the layered dish, cover it with cling film and keep it in the fridge for up to 6 hours. We still add the cheese just before baking, as it draws moisture if left on top too long. If you put it straight from the fridge into the oven, add 5 to 10 minutes to the baking time because the sauce needs to come up to temperature first.
What does not work is preparing the sauce separately and pouring it cold over the pasta. It will not soak in properly and the gratin turns out dry. Either prepare the whole gratin layered in advance, or start it fresh just before eating.
Leftovers and storage
Covered in the fridge, the gratin keeps for 2 to 3 days. We reheat it in portions in the oven at 160°C for 12 minutes, which keeps the crust crisp. The microwave works too and is faster, but the cheese becomes tough and rubbery.
Freezing works only partially. The pasta turns mealy when defrosted and the sauce can separate slightly. If you do want to freeze it, it is better to freeze only the finished cheese sauce separately and cook fresh pasta when serving. The sauce keeps in portion containers for up to 4 weeks in the freezer and can be stirred back to a creamy consistency in a saucepan over medium heat.
What to serve alongside
We serve the pasta and ham gratin with a green salad and a sharp dressing to balance the cream and cheese. A classic yoghurt dressing from the Thermomix® or a simple vinegar and oil dressing are our standard accompaniments. If you like tomatoes with it, halve a few cherry tomatoes into the salad to freshen up the rich gratin. For a vegetarian version without bacon, our spinach and gnocchi bake from the Thermomix® is a good source of inspiration, where spinach takes the lead.
Dice or strips: which cut works better
We deliberately use dice of about 8 to 10 mm. Strips cut from a pack of cooked ham look neater but give off almost no flavour in the gratin and become tough at the edges after 25 to 30 minutes at 200°C. Dice have more cut surface, release fat and salt into the bechamel and stay juicy inside. With 200 g of diced bacon you notice every bite; with strips the ham disappears between the pasta and the sauce. If you do want to use strips, cut them crossways into 1 cm pieces and they will behave almost like dice.
Find more bake ideas from the mixing bowl in our casserole recipes section.
