Yep, ANOTHER mac’n’cheese recipe from me. I’m not entirely sure how many I’ve posted on here, but at least four. Which for someone who is meant to be low-carb isn’t great…but here is one which is slightlyyyy lower in carbs than usual.
I’ve fallen a little in love with cauliflower recently. I’m not on the whole one of those people who fall on foodie bandwagons. I’m not tempted to go sugar free, and I’m sure as hell not making meringues out of chickpea gunge (ew!). I’ve largely ignored the trend for making carb-y things out of cauliflower, but this felt worth a try. Because it’s not cauliflower pretending to be anything. It’s just cauliflower cheese and mac’n’cheese combined in one gooey bake. Sounds good? Yep, though so!
Taken from one of Jamie Oliver’s books, it’s a pretty easy recipe. His version calls for a ‘cheats’ cheese sauce made with creme fraiche, but we made our own (based on
W’s cheesy pasta bake). We also added a few bits and made a lot of changes, so I’m pretty sure it’s not copyright to give you my version!
Ingredients (serves 2 greedy people)
- 2-3 florets of cauliflower per person
- 140g macaroni
- 2 rashers of bacon
- 2 tablespoons plain flour
- 500ml-ish of milk
- Around 50g butter
- A good handful of grated cheddar for the sauce
- Breadcrumbs (1 slice of bread worth)
- Another half handful of grated cheddar, plus some grated parmsan
Whilst an easy recipe, this creates a LOT of washing up. Finely chop your cauliflower, tip into a roasting tin, toss in a little oil and cook at 200C for about 10 minutes. You want it to start looking charred.
Meanwhile fry your diced bacon until crisp and cook your macaroni.
And make the cheese sauce. Melt butter in a pan, add flour and stir constantly. Pour in the milk gradually and keep stirring and heating until thick. Add the cheese and season well.
Add your pasta to a baking dish, tip in the bacon and cauliflower. Stir to combine, pour over the sauce and make sure everything is covered. Mix together the rest of the cheese and breadcrumbs, then scatter this mixture over the top.
Grill until golden, crispy, and delicious whilst you wash up all the pans.
Enjoy with a green salad, and feel slightly better about eating mac’n’cheese.
I found this was a great way of eating cauliflower. I still don’t particularly like the stuff, but it wasn’t as horrific as a cauliflower cheese! The bacon and crispy breadcrumbs definitely help! And with the rest of the cauliflower? I might have got against my word and made it ‘pretend’ to be something else. There’s a sneaky peek on my Instagram, but you’ll just have to wait and find out!
Are you a fan of cauliflower? What’s your favourite cauliflower recipe?
