Healthy Cooking - Mac N'Cheese

Here's a healthier and lighter take on homemade mac n'cheese (and much better than boxed mac n'cheese that is so processed). It was inspired by a recipe in Jamie Oliver's Meals in Minutes. I also like this recipe because it is much easier than traditional homemade mac n'cheese, which I always find so labor intensive. Easier and healthier. Win. Win.

A testament to how good this healthy mac n'cheese is that my husband even ate it (and had more than one serving, which means he liked it and wasn't just being polite). This is a big deal because he doesn't really like pasta and he never eats vegetables. With this, he ate both (and happily)!

I used tri-colored rotini pasta, which is one of my favorite types of pasta. I usually make pasta salad with it, but it worked very nicely for this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 box (12 oz-16 oz) of pasta (rotinia, penne, elbow macaroni or something similar would work best)
1 head of cauliflower (cauliflower has been really cheap lately, so I'm using it a lot and love it!!)
1 bag (9 oz) of shredded cheese (I used sharp)
1/2 cup (about) of sour cream, cream fraiche or plain yogurt (I used sour cream because that's what I already had on hand)
4 slices of whole wheat italian bread (day old is fine)


Here's what you do:

1. Quarter the cauliflower and put it in a large pot with your pasta
2. Cover with water and boil (for about 8 minutes - until pasta is cooked) - add some salt and olive oil to the water
3. Put the sliced bread (torn into pieces) in the food processor with the shredded cheese and some olive oil and pulse until you get a good breadcrumb consistency (you could also add herbs into the food process. Jaime recommends Rosemary, but I didn't have any fresh herbs, so I just made it without).
4. Drain the pasta and cauliflower with a bowl underneath your colander so that you can catch some of the pasta water.
5. In your roasting pan (mine was 9 x 9 because we have a small oven), put the pasta and cauliflower, mashing the soft cauliflower up a bit. Add about 1-1 1/2 cups of the pasta water and your sour cream/cream fraiche or yogurt. Taste and correct seasoning (you could add shredded cheese into this mixture as well if you want, but to keep it lighter, I didn't). You don't want it to be soupy, so keep that in mind when judging how much pasta water to add.
6. Top with breadcrumb/cheese mixture and cook at 425 degrees for about 8 minutes (until golden and bubbly).

Some tips - if you have a tea kettle, put the kettle on while you're prepping your cauliflower (quartering and talking the stalks and tough base off) and then pour the boiled/hot tea kettle water over your cauliflower/pasta. This way your boil time is shorter. I use this Jaime tip when making potatoes as well (or anything that calls for bringing water to a boil). It's easy and speeds things up a bit, which is nice when you are trying to cook quickly because you have a baby and a 2 year-old vying for your attention.

Also, I had a little bit of pancetta that needed to be used, so I put it in my 9X9 and threw it in the oven (top shelf) to cook up and then added it in the food processor with the bread and cheese, so you could add pancetta or bacon if you want (though, then it is less healthy). I only had one slice, so it didn't really add much bad. (Jaime recommends 8 slices of pancetta).

You could also just use pre-made breadcrumbs if you don't have a food processor and don't want to hassle, but it definitely tastes better when you make them yourself.