Macaroni and cheese with fall vegetables
Mac and cheese has a lot going for it: it's delicious, it's comforting, and it's easy to bake up a big batch of it and enjoy lots of leftovers. But it's not exactly the most nutritionally complete meal you could wish for. This version, which adds some seasonal vegetables (namely acorn squash and broccoli) to the usual plethora of dairy products and pasta, goes a little way towards upping the nutrition content of a traditional mac and cheese. Please note: I am not suggesting that this version of mac and cheese is low fat or low calories. It's not! But it does taste good.
This inspiration for this dish comes mainly from this recipe that I saw on Heidi Swanson's blog about a year ago. I tried that recipe as written last fall and I liked it, but found it a little dry. I missed the cheese sauce that I'm used to in my mother's mac and cheese recipe! So this fall, when I once again found myself with squash and broccoli on hand, I tried it again--but this time I made a sort of hybrid between Heidi's recipe and my mom's.
Ingredients:
1 small acorn squash (you could certainly use butternut or delicata or any other winter squash you like.)
1 small head broccoli
2 slices whole grain bread of your choice
a handful of basil
1 1/2 heaping cups of elbow macaroni
2 tbs butter
a tbs or two of dried minced onions. Or some fresh minced onions. Suit yourself.
2 tbs flour
2 cups milk
2 cups cheddar, either cubed or grated (Your sauce is more likely to be smooth and velvety if you grate the cheese. If you cube it, it will not melt perfectly but will instead produce little pockets of concentrated cheesiness in the final product. This is something I like so I prefer to cube the cheese, but to each their own.)
First the squash: peel and seed your squash, and chop it into bite-sized bits. Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast in a 400 degree oven until tender and beginning to brown, 25-30 mins.
Next the topping: roughly chop broccoli and basil. Tear up the bread. Put broccoli, bread, and basil in a food processor with a small glug of olive oil and pulse until the texture resembles bread crumbs.
Meanwhile, boil a pot of water and cook your pasta.
Now the sauce: melt butter in a sauce pan. Add onions and cook briefly. Add flour and cook briefly, whisking all the while. Slowly whisk the milk into your roux, and cook until it thickens just a little. Add cheese and keep stirring until your cheese achieves desired degree of meltiness.
Add pasta and squash to cheese sauce and place mixture in a baking dish. Spread the broccoli-bread crumb mixture on top and return it to the oven until hot and bubbly (about 20 minutes).