Green Mac and Cheese
This rendition of your classic mac ‘n cheese is perfect for post-O Week, when your hangover isn't budging but your body is begging for some nutrients. It's effectively like you’re 5-years-old again and your mum is disguising your vegetables under a pile of cheese sauce just so you’ll eat them, except you're in your 20’s now so you have to make them yourself.
(Serves 6 hungry people, or 8 not-so hungry people)
Ingredients:
- 500 g macaroni
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 400g bacon - diced
- 4-6 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 onion diced
- 1 bag spinach (frozen or fresh) - stalks chopped, leaves sliced separately
- 1 head broccoli - stalk cubed, florets separated
- 1 teaspoon mustard (whole grain preferred but any will work)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3 heaped tablespoons flour
- About 750mls milk
- 2 cups grated cheese
Optional toppings:
- Handful of parsley/basil - chopped
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- Olive oil
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius, fan bake.
Macaroni:
1. Boil a pot of water with a couple of pinches of salt. When it has come to a rolling boil, add macaroni and allow to cook for about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain and stir in 2 tablespoons of olive oil so it doesn’t stick together. Set aside (in a pot with the lid on so it stays warm).
Cheese sauce:
2. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in another pot on a medium heat. Add bacon and cook until browned. Remove from pot, set aside. (If you’re vego, or you don’t like bacon, this step can easily be left out).
3. In the same pot, add 1 tablespoon of butter, onion, garlic and broccoli and spinach stalks. Cook until soft, about 7 minutes.
4. Turn to low heat, add mustard, nutmeg, and flour. Mix. Then gradually add the milk, about 1/2 a cup at a time, mixing and allowing to thicken between each 1/2 cup.
5. Once all incorporated, add the cheese and a good amount of salt and pepper to taste.
6. Depending on your kitchen facilities:
Stick blender:
Add all of the spinach to the pot, mixing it into the cheese sauce and allowing to wilt. Use the stick blender to blend it all together.
Stand blender:
Allow the cheese sauce to cool slightly, then add it to the blender and incorporate the spinach, handfuls at a time, until it is completely blended together (depending on the size of your blender you might have to do this in batches). Pour the mixture back into the pot.
7. Cook the (now green) cheese sauce, incorporating the broccoli florets and cooked bacon on a medium heat for 5 minutes. Then turn the heat off and mix through the macaroni.
Optional toppings:
8. Combine parsley and/or basil, parmesan, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a bowl.
9. Pour the mac and cheese into an oven safe dish, sprinkle over the toppings (if you don’t want to do the toppings, simply sprinkle over another half cup of any cheese instead) and place into the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the top is golden brown.