We couldn’t have a comfort food section of Fresh Start, Feel Good and not include this favourite! Our mac ‘n’ cheese is packed with vegetables and topped with a deliciously creamy cauliflower cheese sauce.
This recipe is from Nadia Lim’s Fresh Start, Feel Good cookbook!
Mac ‘N’ Cheese with Butternut, Bacon, Sage, Spinach and Creamy Cauliflower Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
Roast butternut
- 600g butternut or pumpkin, peeled and diced 1-2cm
- 2 slices lean bacon (e.g. shoulder or mid-eye), rind removed and diced
- ½ onion, diced
- 10-15 sage leaves
- 1 Tbsp chopped thyme
- 1 tsp olive oil
Creamy cauliflower cheese sauce
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ½ onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- ½ medium head cauliflower, chopped into florets
- ⅔ cup milk
- ½ cup salt-reduced chicken or vegetable stock
- ¼ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
- Tbsp finely chopped parsley
Parmesan and parsley topping
- ¼ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
Macaroni
- 220g dried macaroni (quinoa, wholemeal or standard)
- 2-2½ cups chopped spinach or silverbeet leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven for 220°C. Line an oven tray with baking paper.
- Toss butternut, bacon and onion with sage, thyme and olive oil on a lined tray. Spread out in a single layer, season with salt and pepper and roast for about 20 minutes, tossing once during cooking, until butternut is soft and slightly caramelised.
- For the sauce, heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic, with a pinch of salt, for about 2 minutes until soft, but not coloured. Add cauliflower, milk and stock. Cover partially and simmer for about 15 minutes or until cauliflower is soft.
- Meanwhile, in a separate pot, cook macaroni in boiling salted water until al dente (just cooked).
- Stir Parmesan into cauliflower mixture, then use a blender or stick blender to puree cauliflower and its cooking liquid together until silky smooth. Add a little more milk is you think the sauce needs thinning out. Stir in parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Switch oven to grill. Drain pasta, tip back into the pot and stir through spinach/silverbeet until wilted. Gently stir in roast butternut mixture. Spoon into 4 individual ramekins or one large baking dish. Spoon over cauliflower cheese sauce.
- Mix Parmesan and parsley and sprinkle over the top, then grill for 5-10 minutes until golden.
Notes
Nutrition information:
Energy: 440cals (1838kJ)
Protein: 21.0g
Carbohydrate: 61.8g (14.4g sugars)
Fat: 10.5g (2.9g saturated fat)
