If you haven’t tried the cheese sauce that I made for the Mr. Crunchy recipe, here is yet another reason to master the Roux, milk, cheese sauce. It makes an absolutely perfect baked macaroni and cheese. In fact you can even use the exact same cheeses that I used in the sandwich. (Yea leftovers!)
The recipe I used for the above photo was from a Bon Appétit which means that it has a lot of ingredients. Sometimes BA tries to slam as many ingredients into a dish as possible. Meanwhile, there I am at the store pulling my hair out. Things like: This recipe originally called for “heirloom tomatoes.” While I love those things, they are expensive and you put so much cheese and other stuff in this dish, why would you need those?
Cauliflower Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Time: 40 minutes + 40 minutes baking time
Veggies
- 1 Full head of cauliflower, cut into flourets
- 1 14oz can diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
Cheese Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 5 Tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 cups good cheese (I used Gruyere, some swiss, maybe a bit of cheddar.) You don’t want to use all cheddar or cheeses that won’t melt well.
- 1/2 cup Parmesan
- 1 cup Sour cream (or Greek Yogurt. The original calls for Creme fraiche which is nice if you can get it).
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard (opt.)
Other stuff you need
- 10 ounces penne
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- Salt
1) Boil your cut up cauliflower in a large pot of salted water for 5 minutes, until tender but still crisp. Pull out your cauliflower, but keep the water to make the pasta in!
2) Melt 2 TBSP. butter in large sauté pan. Sauté cauliflower for five minutes. Add tomatoes and onions. Cook for 1 minute just to combine all the yummy flavors.
3) In a separate pan, make your Roux by melting 2 TBSP. butter and whisking in 2 TBSP. flour. Cook for a few minutes and then slowly add in your cream. The mixture will thicken pretty quickly.
4) Add your cheese slowly until it is all melted, then sour cream, 1/2 of your Parm, and mustard. Season with Salt and pepper and remove from heat once it is thick and cheesy and awesome.
5) Cook your pasta in the cauliflower water. Drain the water.
6) Add your cauliflower mixture to the pasta and pour sauce over it. Combine well.
7) Pour into a buttered 13X9 baking dish.
8 ) Top with breadcrumbs and the rest of your Parm.
9) Bake at 350 for 40 minutes until golden brown.
It will be incredibly hard, but let this cool before you jump in. This dish is not the easiest that I’ve made on this site, but if you take things one piece at a time, it is very doable.
Have questions about any part of this? Leave a comment or send me an email!
That looks amazing. I may have to make it soon.
One thing: “- 3 cups good cheese (I used Gruyere, some swiss, maybe a bit of cheddar.) You wanted want to use all cheddar or cheeses that won’t melt well.”