{"id":1609,"date":"2020-07-10T08:48:41","date_gmt":"2020-07-09T20:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mfb-wordpress-ae-prod.azurewebsites.net\/explore\/uncategorized\/healthier-mac-n-cheese-with-creamy-cauliflower-cheese-sauce\/"},"modified":"2023-08-07T14:38:26","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T02:38:26","slug":"healthier-mac-n-cheese-with-creamy-cauliflower-cheese-sauce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myfoodbag.co.nz\/explore\/2020\/07\/10\/healthier-mac-n-cheese-with-creamy-cauliflower-cheese-sauce\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthier Mac ‘N’ Cheese with Creamy Cauliflower Cheese Sauce"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This recipe is from Nadia Lim’s Fresh Start, Feel Good<\/a> cookbook!<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div>
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\n \n

Mac ‘N’ Cheese with Butternut, Bacon, Sage, Spinach and Creamy Cauliflower Cheese Sauce<\/h2>\n \n <\/div>\n \n
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Servings <\/span>4<\/span><\/div>\n
Prep Time <\/span>30 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Cook Time <\/span>35 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n \n

Ingredients<\/h3>

Roast butternut<\/h4>
  • 600g<\/span> butternut or pumpkin, peeled and diced 1-2cm<\/span><\/li>
  • 2<\/span> slices<\/span> lean bacon (e.g. shoulder or mid-eye), rind removed and diced<\/span><\/li>
  • \u00bd<\/span> onion, diced<\/span><\/li>
  • 10-15<\/span> sage leaves<\/span><\/li>
  • 1<\/span> Tbsp<\/span> chopped thyme<\/span><\/li>
  • 1<\/span> tsp<\/span> olive oil<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/div>

    Creamy cauliflower cheese sauce<\/h4>
    • 1<\/span> tsp<\/span> olive oil<\/span><\/li>
    • \u00bd<\/span> onion, diced<\/span><\/li>
    • 1<\/span> clove garlic, finely chopped<\/span><\/li>
    • \u00bd<\/span> medium head cauliflower, chopped into florets<\/span><\/li>
    • \u2154<\/span> cup<\/span> milk<\/span><\/li>
    • \u00bd<\/span> cup<\/span> salt-reduced chicken or vegetable stock<\/span><\/li>
    • \u00bc<\/span> cup<\/span> finely grated Parmesan cheese<\/span><\/li>
    • Tbsp<\/span> finely chopped parsley<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/div>

      Parmesan and parsley topping<\/h4>
      • \u00bc<\/span> cup<\/span> finely grated Parmesan cheese<\/span><\/li>
      • 1<\/span> Tbsp<\/span> finely chopped parsley<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/div>

        Macaroni<\/h4>
        • 220g<\/span> dried macaroni (quinoa, wholemeal or standard)<\/span><\/li>
        • 2-2\u00bd<\/span> cups<\/span> chopped spinach or silverbeet leaves<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
          \n

          Instructions<\/h3>
          • Preheat oven for 220\u00b0C. Line an oven tray with baking paper. <\/span><\/div><\/li>
          • 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. <\/span><\/div><\/li>
          • 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. <\/span><\/div><\/li>
          • Meanwhile, in a separate pot, cook macaroni in boiling salted water until al dente (just cooked). <\/span><\/div><\/li>
          • 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. <\/span><\/div><\/li>
          • 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. <\/span><\/div><\/li>
          • Mix Parmesan and parsley and sprinkle over the top, then grill for 5-10 minutes until golden. <\/span><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n
            <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

            Notes<\/h3>
            Nutrition information:<\/strong><\/span><\/span>
            <\/div>\nEnergy: 440cals (1838kJ)<\/span><\/span>
            <\/div>\nProtein: 21.0g<\/span><\/span>
            <\/div>\nCarbohydrate: 61.8g (14.4g sugars)<\/span><\/span>
            <\/div>\nFat: 10.5g (2.9g saturated fat)<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n \n
            \n \n
            <\/g><\/svg><\/span> Calories: <\/span>440<\/span>kcal<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n \n \n <\/div>\n \n \n<\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            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!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2385,2377,2374],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dinner","category-freshstart","category-recipes","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myfoodbag.co.nz\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myfoodbag.co.nz\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myfoodbag.co.nz\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myfoodbag.co.nz\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myfoodbag.co.nz\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.myfoodbag.co.nz\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16298,"href":"https:\/\/www.myfoodbag.co.nz\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609\/revisions\/16298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myfoodbag.co.nz\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myfoodbag.co.nz\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myfoodbag.co.nz\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myfoodbag.co.nz\/explore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}